Burning at Midnight
by Ria M Write
Summary: Courtney is a monster. She kills vampires. Jack is Courtney's stepbrother. He likes Courtney. When Courtney finds herself in love with Jack, what is there to do but runaway? They leave their home on the east coast, starting a long journey to La Push. Imprinting story with other characters.
1. Shaded

Chapter One: Shaded

"I'll never be cold," Courtney concluded with a sigh, lifting open her bedroom window and sticking out her head into the chilly, dark night. Not even the icy rain drops made her shiver. Catching a whiff of the too-sweet-smell she has come to hate more than anything, Courtney's nostrils burned. Her muscles tensed. Tears filled her eyes as she attempted to stay calm, in control. "I want to go back home!"

A few minutes later, in a dark alley, a pair of red eyes spotted Courtney's russet-with-gray-spots fur. The vampire removed its razor-sharp teeth from the neck of its dead victim: a woman in her mid thirties. The limp body fell to the wet asphalt.

Growling in all her fury, the humongous monster-wolf lunged at the vampire.

Shocked, the vampire hesitated for just a second too long. All very quickly, the woman's life was avenged.

Turning her big wolfy head up to the sky, Courtney allowed the rain to wash away her headache. _"Murderer, murderer,"_ she thought. But who was it, really? The vampire, or her?

A sniffle came from the shadows and a small figure that had not been noticed by Courtney before was now capturing all of her attention.

A little boy with narrow, dark eyes and blue-black hair fell to the ground by the woman and hugged her cold body.

The boy shook with sobs.

"_Oh no, poor boy!"_ Courtney thought. Her heart broke just looking at his pain. She had it in her mind to step forward but something enormous and furry caught her eye. Her paw. The wolf would just scare the boy and she was too worked up to be able to turn back into her human form.

"_I'm sorry, little boy."_

Courtney ran. She ran away from the small boy and his mother's body. She ran until the darkness took her thoughts.

And the night melted into morning.

A bitter, too-bright, morning.

Courtney swallowed hard, staring at her boring white ceiling and covered in her simple patch-work quilt.

"At least it's Saturday," she whispered to herself, feeling a salty tear escape her eyes and slide slowly down her cheek. She was not sure how much longer she could handle being a murderer and living the double life without even understanding _why_.

Courtney could hear her older sister and her grandmother downstairs arguing over breakfast. With so many things always changing in her life (including her _shape_) you'd think some consistency would be comforting. But no. Upon hearing the argument, Courtney threw her pillow at the wall and mumbled some curses under her breath. She pulled herself out of bed and stumbled her way to the kitchen.

"Well you really should have to have some eggs. You _have to_ have some protein in the morning." Courtney's grandma told her eighteen-year-old sister, Ren.

"Grandma, I'm old enough to make my own decisions about what I'll have for breakfast," Ren hissed as she rolled her eyes.

"How about you, Courtney, darling? Would you like some eggs for breakfast?"

"Yes! I'm _starving!_" Courtney eagerly sat down at the long kitchen table next to Ren. Her older sister was in normal state of 'Ren-ness.' She wore a short-sleeve purple dress that reached four inches above her knees, purple and gray arm socks, matching sweater-knit tights, and eye-drawing converse of a rich blue color with-yup, you guessed it- gray and purple laces. Ren's soft, long, dark hair was piled on top of her head looking so delicate with her graceful, tan face, it was only natural that she had set a few shorter strands aside to hang on either side of her face.

To many, Ren looked like a teenager trying to dress like an orphan.

To Courtney, her older sister looked stunning as usual. She often wished she could imitate that sort of peculiarity and uniqueness Ren possessed.

But Courtney strayed away from cool colors like blue and purple and always wanted to dress herself in reds.

That was before her clothes started getting destroyed on a daily basis…

Ren's deep brown eyes shifted to Courtney's dark black eyes. From the corner of her eye, Courtney watched Ren stare at her all while their grandmother had the younger sister eat everything from eggs, tea, salmon, and roast beef for breakfast. Having a large appetite, Courtney happily gobbled it all up like a wolf.

Once Courtney had decided to give her grandma a break from cooking, Ren was finally able to excuse herself-much to their grandmother's protest- from the table. She left to the living room, kicking various toys out of her way as she went.

Then the phone rang.

"I'll get it!" Ren called, somehow already upstairs. Courtney dashed into the living room and answered the phone.

"_Ha. Beat you to it, Ren!" _

But her victory was short lived. Upon pressing the phone to her ear, Courtney heard Ren already having a conversation with an extremely familiar voice.

"You're coming back today?" Ren's high-pitched voice asked.

"Yeah. My dad's driving us back at seven."

"Okay. I'll tell Lesi and my dad once they get home at four." Ren told him.

_Him_. Courtney's problems were only beginning.

There was a pause.

"…Jack? Anything else?" Ren asked.

"Could you…Is Courtney able to talk on the phone right now?"

Courtney's heart skipped a few beats, she didn't want to hear the rest of the conversation. She hung up the phone and sat down on the couch with her head in her knees. Unfortunately for her, she has freakishly good hearing and could still hear the entire rest of the phone conversation.

"I thought you were mad at her?" Ren asked. _How does Ren know anything about that? _

"…I didn't know you knew about that, Ren." Jack said, sort of sounding surprised, "Just tell Courtney that'll never be her stepbrother."

Jack hung up. Ren skipped downstairs.

Courtney gathered up her courage to talk to her older sister,

"Who was that?"

"Jack."

"What did he want?"

"He wanted to tell Lesi he and Alexander will be back at seven. Oh and something about how he hates you, too."

Courtney smirked at her sister's interpretation of Jack's words. She could not really blame Ren, though. To her older sister it could seem like Jack was making no sense at all because he already _is_ Courtney and Ren's stepbrother.

"I'm going out." Courtney told her grandma and sister, "I'll be back at six thirty."

"Where are you going?" Her grandmother asked, but Courtney ignored her and darted out of the house.

She breathed in the city air.

_Smells so gross. _

She couldn't let her mind drift back over to Jack coming home in a few hours. She couldn't start running though scenarios concerning how she should react when he tries to confront her about his feelings (again.)

And she most certainly can NOT start thinking about what she feels for him.

Because that would be wrong.

She should be worried about being a murdering monster, not some stupid, confusing, teenage hormone drama!

_Now where is Steve? _

Courtney had reached a run-down gas station with broken windows and shady figures standing here and there. But none were the shady figure she came to talk to.

Light, slow footsteps caught her interest and Courtney turned her head to peer down a dark alley.

_Oh no. _

The dark alley from last night.

"E-excuze me? Can you help me? P-please?"

There, standing right in front of her, with tears fiercely running from his puffy, red eyes to his cold, pale chin was the little boy whose life had been ruined by the vampire.

Courtney's black eyes went wide. She took off her brown and blue sweater she had been only wearing in attempt to look normal-er-ish and leaned down to the boys height. She met his eyes and her face crumpled and she covered her face to cry.

"I'm so sorry, little boy," she sobbed. She took a breath and wrapped her sweater over the boy's jacket. She wiped the tears from his face. He was very cold.

"Y-you're hands are warm." The boy told her. Courtney smiled,

"I'm glad." She choked out, for once in her life thankful for her oddness. Then she remembered she'd not supposed to know what happened to the boy.

"Were you out here all night?"

He nodded. "Do you know your address? I could walk you to your house." Courtney offered, unsure what else do to.

"Scarin' young children now? Leave the boy alone."

Courtney recognized the voice of Steve; the exact person she had come to see in the first place.

She turned to see his face,

"I'm responsible that he returns home safely."

"Who are you? Spiderman?"

I leaned up to reach Steve's ear and whispered,

"I killed the vampire who murdered his mother. I never did anything to help the boy. It's only right I help him now."

Steve shook his head in disbelief,

"Things are getting out of hand, little girl. I keep tellin' you and tellin' you! You just ain't right in the head! There's no werewolf thing going on with you! You're _._"

"No I'm not!" Courtney started to shake with anger. Knowing that would put everyone in danger, she tired to take deep breaths to calm herself down. Steve ran off.

Courtney turned back to the little boy,

"What's your name?"

"Benny."

"Do you live around here, Benny?"

"I don't think so…"

She fished out a few coins from her pocket and walked over to the nearest pay phone. She called the police and told them she'd found a little boy lost named Benny.

At least now he would be safe.

You'd be surprised how many vampires there are in cities. Courtney found another one lurking in the shadows a couple hours after the police took Benny. She was able to control herself long enough to spare her clothes this time.

And then it was time to start heading home. She had chased the vampire further then she'd expected so it took her awhile to get back home.

It was just before seven when she finally made it to her house. Courtney's dad and stepmom were both home now and her grandma had left.

Like clockwork, Jack and Alexander came through the door at exactly seven.

The atmosphere of the room seemed to change for Courtney when Jack entered. Everything seemed happier.

She looked up to examine his expression. And then all at once, she wanted him.

She wanted him more than her body needed air, more than the ocean loves water.

Her mouth fell open as he walked towards her in all his absolute beauty.

"Hey, Court." His sweet voice rang as he 'accidently' kicked her chair and sat down next to her at the kitchen table. Alexander was already running upstairs and everyone else was in the living room. Knowing they were alone, Jack put his hands down on the table close to Courtney and rested his head on them. He looked up at her through his eyelashes, "Miss me?" he teased in a whisper.

_And I have him…_ Courtney reminded herself. Her expression turned into a ridiculously huge and uncontrollably goofy smile.

"Okay, don't get too happy now. I'm still mad at you." Jack said, leaning back in his chair. "You need to explain why you wanted me to stay at my dads for so extra long. I wanted to see you!"

All color drained from Courtney's face. She made sure no one could overhear them and then she spoke,

"I was afraid."

Jack looked down at his feet for a moment then met Courtney's eyes again,

"I told you we can make this work. What is it going to take for you to stop doubting we're meant to be together?"

"No- I was afraid of something else."

"Jack! Courtney!" Lesi (Jack's mom) called from the living room. Courtney looked at Jack. He bit his lip and left to the living room. _We'll talk later._

_What's with my sudden change in attitude towards Jack? Before I was always so hesitant and scared to talk to him. I was afraid to show him I liked him because it just seems so wrong. But now…I couldn't imagine anything more perfect than Jack._

**Should I continue? **

**Also do you think I should make it all in Courtney's POV or should I keep it in 3rd person like this? **

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Candle

2. Candle 

_-Burning at Midnight-_

The lights were turned out throughout the large, green house. The black ocean reached up along the beach, devouring sand and then splashing back into the salty abyss. Quick footsteps patted through the green house. Silence came again, the house completely still and quiet in the dark.

Then, brightness captured a single room looking over the sea. A light had been flicked on in the room where two people were ready to share secrets in the large, green house overlooking the sea.

**Jack's Point of View**

I squinted my eyes in the sudden light. Courtney was in my room, ready to explain herself to me.

Her creamy, light brown hair only reached just above her shoulders now.

"Jack, I can explain why I've been acting so strangely to you and…." She trailed off, thinking about what to say. Her pretty brown eyes stayed with my gray ones. I ran a hand through my red-brown messy hair, realizing I must have bed hair from pretending to be asleep. I sat up in my bed and pointed to the other end of my bed, offering Courtney a seat. She hesitated, for some reason staring deep into my eyes. Than she smiled and jumped on to the bed gracefully. I smiled.

_Courtney always was so hyper, adventurous. I remember that one time when we were seven she made me race against her all across town._

I had always been that boy with the crush on the tough girl, the girl who had no idea I liked her. Ever since I met her when we were five, I've been her friend. A friend who thinks about every curve of her face, and dreams of her light, beautiful hair. A friend who never once got jealous of the other guys she hangs around because I know that she doesn't even think of _me_ like that.

Or at least, that's how it _used_ to be. I did profess my love to her when we were eight. She didn't take it very well though, she sounded very confused and kept asking what on earth I was talking about.

Ah, well, now things are different. Our parents got married. Talk about the worst day of my life. Or maybe the best day. She made the wedding so fun. We hid under the table with the cake and whispered to each other about all the different guests and when it was time to eat the cake, we jumped out and gave our parents a heart attack while they were cutting the cake. It was all her idea, of course. Most of my thoughts were consumed by her face, how she looked in that dress, and how that I knew deep down she was starting to like me too. We were nine then.

I also remember right before our parents were declared husband and wife, I snuck a kiss on her cheek and whispered, "Don't ever forget that." She turned a deep red and wouldn't look at me for a few minutes after that. But she got over it after I promised her I would do anything she wants for the rest of her life. She enjoyed controlling me. A lot.

"When did you cut your hair, anyways?" I asked her, reaching out and holding a strand of her now short hair between my forefinger and thumb.

She smiled, for some reason happy that I was playing with her hair. _Why is she acting so different?_

"I cut it a few weeks ago, when you and Alexander first left for your hiking trip with your dad. Do you like it?" She seemed hopeful.

_No._

I looked at it again, wondering if I could lie to her.

_Uh…ah, well it doesn't look _that_ bad…no, actually…she looks kind of cute like this. _

"I like it." I sided, nodding in approval. She grinned.

"I'm sorry I kept you away for so long, Jack. I didn't want to hurt you. I can explain but you have to swear you'll keep it an absolute secret."

_A secret? Exciting. _

I leaned across my bed, closer to her. I whispered,

"I swear."

She ran a hand through my hair,

"You look nice today…" she said, sounding dazed for a moment. Then she returned to my eyes and started to explain, "It's something that happened to me. I changed. Please believe me, it's going to sound crazy, just please believe me," she begged.

"Anything," I promised, still whispering and leaning in close to her. She smiled for a second.

"I can turn into a wolf."

"…a wolf? Like a shape shifter? Wait-what are you? When did this happen? Did it hurt? Are you okay? Why did this happen?!?!" _Courtney! Answer me! I can't believe it; she's completely serious about this. She wouldn't pull this cruel of a joke on me, would she? _

Courtney took in a shaky breath,

"I don't know. I don't know why it happened. I'm so lost. I thought about looking it up on the internet but I just got confused, everything on there contradicted itself. I kept on finding stuff about werewolves but they only change on a full moon. Now I'm thinking I should go to the library to look stuff up…And, and it _did_ hurt. A lot. Like crazy. One day I was just walking through the city and then I smelled something really bad and these two guys were fighting. But they were super strong and fast, it's like nothing you've ever seen, Jack! Then I just, I felt so _angry_ and I-I exploded! I don't really remember what happened except that I bet those guys have red eyes. Now every time I see one of those freaky people I change into a huge, huge wolf that's super strong and fast and then I can't change back until I calm down. The first day it took me four days to calm down! I had to lie to my dad and Lesi by saying I was at my friend's house. They're still suspicious about it and it's been three weeks!"

"Oh my god…." I whispered, totally shocked and without anymore words. I looked up into Courtney's eyes and then I pulled her into a hug.

"Why did this happen to you?" I asked again, knowing she did not have an answer. _Why?_

"Will you come to the library with me tomorrow, Jack?" Courtney asked me, pulling away and putting her hands on my shoulders.

"Yes," I agreed, "And are you sick? You have a fever." I put my hand on her forehead, it was burning up!

She laughed and pulled my hand away.

"No. It's another thing with being a wolf/girl. I think. I've been hot like this since right before I changed."

I chuckled,

"You've been hot like this for awhile, Courtney." I winked at her. She blushed and hit my arm.

"I didn't say you could say things like that!" She snapped.

But it was true; she has been looking more and more like a woman all year. Especially now. She was strong, too.

I cradled a side of her face with my hand,

"Can I say things like that, Courtney?" I asked her in my most dreamy voice, trying to melt her heart with my eyes. It seemed to work. She reached out-still locked in my eyes- and grabbed on to one of my sides of my shirt with her hand. I slowly leaned closer and closer to her. She didn't move so I gained enough confidence to go all the way and carefully pressed my lips to hers. She was warm, cuddly.

I only kissed her once, briefly. Then I slowly backed away. She was smiling like crazy.

"And Jack," she began. I smiled, telling her to continue, "When I saw you for the first time today, I think gravity moved and now I'm revolving around you."

"What's that supposed to mean? Are you calling me fat?" I laughed. She turned red and shook her head,

"I mean…Jack, I think I'm love with you now."

I froze, in disbelief.

"I…"

"Who's talking in there?! Get some sleep!" Lesi demanded from her bedroom.

"I have to get some sleep," Courtney yawned. I nodded, still shocked from her confession.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, then," I said. She smiled at me and then left to her room. I climbed back under my covers and tried to understand what just happened.

_Courtney told me she loves me. Is that even…? I mean, I really actually got her?_

**AN: thanks so much for reading! Pretty please ****review**** with a cherry on top!**

**Kay thanks and also this is how all the next chapters are going to be, third person then a character's POV. **


	3. Daylight Comatose

Chapter3: Daylight Comatose

_-Burning at Midnight-_

_(I was listening to 'Comatose' by Skillet for this chapter)_

Running out of the large green-colored house overlooking the sea, two sixteen-year-olds pulled their hoods over their heads, to keep the wind from freezing their ears. The boy-Jack- laughed as the girl- Courtney- jumped over the stone wall surrounding their beautiful house in one tremendous bound. The two were headed for the library, reaching the busy town once they made their way down the long pebbled drive from their house.

**Courtney's Point of View**

Jack and I laughed as I pulled open the door of the library. The hushed atmosphere of the book collection building was a large contrast to the outside town square. Jack and I quickly ended our laughter as we stepped in.

I looked around for the main desk and then led Jack over to a very annoyed-looking librarian stamping some books.

She didn't look up when Jack and I approached the desk.

I sent Jack a glance. He cleared his throat. The librarian looked up.

"Hi. Um, do you know where we can find some books on werewolves?" I asked her.

"Shape shifters and vampires is more of what we're looking for," Jack clarified. The librarian stared at us for a minute then stepped out from behind her desk and led us to a shelf.

"These are all the books we have on mythical creatures. If you are looking for fantasy novels, look in that section over there," she pointed across the library, "But if it's information on myths that you're look for, this is where it will be."

I nodded and immediately began looking over the book titles. Jack smiled a polite thanks as the librarian left back to her desk.

"Jack, I'm really sorry about last night." I told him, keeping my eyes on the books, still trying to focus on my quest as I tried to also settle my guilty emotions with Jack.

I couldn't see Jack because he was now standing directly behind me, some feet away.

But I could hear him shifting a little.

"What do you mean?" He sounded confused, "I thought last night was great." He said honestly, sounding happy.

There was a pause between us and then he laughed, "Wait, that sounded a little strange to anyone who can over here us."

I chuckled and shook my head. _Jack always sees the different ways things can be taken…no matter how dirty the way could be._

"I know what you meant." I assured him, "And I feel bad about something I said last night." I admitted, apologetic for not bringing this up earlier.

"What you _said_?" Jack asked, sounding in disbelief, "I was just…I mean I…"

My ears started to burn as I understood what he was trying to say.

_He thought it was just awesome that I let him kiss me. He could care less if I hurt his feelings with words before that. _

"No, I didn't mean anything about that. I'm glad about _that_ too," I explained, realizing he could probably make a comment on how what I just said could be taken the wrong way.

"Oh. Good." Jack said, before I finished.

I turned back to glance at his amazing face,

"I meant when you told me I was hot. I told you I didn't give you permission to say that, and I hit you. And then I never clarified if I gave you permission or not."

I dropped my head, feeling full of guilt. "I'm _really_ sorry about all that." I said apologetically, "How can I make it up to you?"

I looked back up at him from under my eyelashes. Jack's eyebrows were raised and he seemed surprised.

"I thought you were just teasing me." He told me, "And you only hit me playfully. Not to mention that I would trade permission to call you hot for a kiss any day…I mean, you let me _kiss_ you instead of answering me. I'm totally okay with that." He laughed the last part. I laughed with him.

"I still felt bad about it." I told him, "But it's a relief to know I didn't hurt your feelings."

"Are you kidding?! That was the confidence-boost of the century!" He exclaimed. I laughed.

"Thanks for making me feel better," I said as I laughed. He smiled,

"It's a mutual exchange of making each other feel better," he assured me, "Now let's get to reading."

I smiled and we both crouched down by the bookshelf, running our eyes along the titles and pulling out a book now and again to skim them and see if it was what we were looking for.

I savored every second that our elbows bumped and maybe leaned over _a little_ more then necessary when I was reaching for something near him.

But I wanted to be close to him.

It was a very new feeling, one that had just started yesterday.

And it was growing every second.

"How about this one?" He asked me, as I was lost in thoughts about him. He was much more focused than I was, probably hardly noticing or thinking anything of it when our elbows touched and when I leaned in just _a little_ too close to him.

I looked over his shoulder at the open book he was holding.

"What is it?" I asked him.

"A book on old tribal legends, there's shape shifters that can turn into wolves in it." He explained.

"What does it say about them?" I asked, suddenly remembering the seriousness of this research. _Need to figure out what's up with me!_

"Well, they mention vampire-like people, just like the ones you see. Have you ever seen them drinking a person's blood?" Jack asked me, turning his head to look at my face. Because our heads were so close with me trying to read over his shoulder, he laughed when we almost bumped into each other. I giggled, then remembered his question. My emotions turned grave.

"Yes," I admitted, "It's sickening. They're truly evil monsters." I spat. Jack stared at me deep in the eyes for a moment then took a deep breath and turned back to the book,

"Poor Courtney. It's scary to know these things are real" He whispered, then shivered, sounding like he felt bad for me. I didn't want him to so I placed my hand on his shoulder.

"I'm okay," I reassured him.

"It says here this certain Native American tribe; the Quileute's, have basically descended from wolves and have shape shifters in their tribe who protect them from vampires."

"Sounds like it could be right," I agreed. "So did other people have this ability to shape shift too?" I asked him. He flipped through some pages.

"Like…outside of the tribe?" He asked. I nodded.

"I don't think so. Exclusively Quileute."

My heart dropped,

"Well that doesn't help us, then."

"What do you mean?" He asked me, putting the book down to face me.

I crossed my arms and looked down, annoyed that this research thing wasn't working.

"I'm not Quileute. My dad and sister are Canarsie."

"Oh." Jack looked like he felt dumb. "I didn't realize there was that big of a difference between tribes."

"There was." I sighed, "But don't feel bad, it doesn't matter. It's not your fault my life's insane."

Jack looked back at the bookshelf and the two of us started looking through the books again.

Jack seemed lost in thought for awhile; I kept glancing up at him to make sure he was okay. At one point he finally told me what was going through his head.

"Court, I am waking up from the fact that this is no longer a little innocent crush, or puppy love that I have for you. My feelings- our relationship- can actually hurt people, tear our families apart. Our love can ricochet and hurt us. But I also see that that'll never happen first- we, ourselves, will never be the first ones to get hurt. These emotions can destroy everything. _Now_ I need you, to the point where I'm emotionally grasping that I will be blind to these things, these danger, when I look at you and know more than anything else that you're…astonishing. And I don't want to seem dependent or clingy but the truth is that _I need you_. I need you… because _I love you_."

The great amount of emotion put into his words, it twisted my heart, tightened my stomach and yanked all the air from my chest.

There was a distant level of stress building up in the back of my mind, deep inside of me. I could feel it.

But beyond that, it was all emotions for _him_. My whole being was to please _him_. And I didn't even feel the need to question why.

Everything just **was**, like it always had been.

"You're right," I tried to speak normally, but the air that wasn't in my lungs caused some problems and I choked on my words, "We are risking everything, everyone close to us is subjected to pain if this goes awry," the next words came from me in a rush, almost desperate, "but it won't, I won't let it. If I can promise you _anything_, Jack, it's my love. I've never been surer of anything in my life. You've won me over, entirely." I was leaning in closer to him, still a good foot or so away. My eyes- I could feel- were filling with tears of desperation. "And your words just now…what you said was…it makes me feel _so_ happy to know that you feel that for me. I want you to love me." I leaned even closer to him. To him and his neatly brushed strawberry blonde hair-which he claims is red and brown-to him and his cool, beautiful gray eyes. I reached out with one arm and before I could reach his shoulder-which was what I was aiming for- he captured my hand in his and held out his other arm, offering a hug. His eyes seemed to reveal almost as much pain as mine.

"Courtney," he whispered, seeming like his voice was strained, "come here."

I wrapped my other arm around him and buried my face in the crook of his neck while he hugged me back and rested his head against mine. "I really did miss you, so much while I was gone." His slow, muffled voice told me.

"We're both here now." I whispered back to him.

Although we were alone between bookshelves, a person could walk by any moment so we agreed we better get back to reading.

As we did, I scanned over the Quileute legends book one more time.

Jack might be waking up to the fact that our relationship is dangerous, but I was waking up to the fact that my shape shifting condition is serious, real, and actually happening. I would need someone there to help me- not like Steve- someone who loves me and believe me, Jack. And not only do I need him for help, but I need him in general.

We are both waking up to reality… and we need each other.

**A/N: Thanks so, **_**so**_** much for reading! Pretty please ****review**** with a cherry on top!**

**If you have any questions thus far, please go ahead and ask them in a review- I **will**reply!**

**Kay, thank you so much again!**


	4. Saltwater Owls

Chapter Four: 'Saltwater Owls'

_-Burning at Midnight-_

Song: "Saltwater Room" by Owl City

__---___--_JCjc_-- ___ ---

The cool waves gushed up against the sand. The darkness kept with it serene silence in the nearby households. Jack could only listen to the sound of the ocean outside, and the sound of the air as it danced through his window.

Then other sounds came. Quiet murmurs led from the lower floor of the large house. An argument was forming between a man and a woman. Jack wished he could not hear his mother and her husband bickering.

Meanwhile, his stepsister had escaped out of the house for some time now.

**Jack's Point of View**

I turned in my bed to look out over the sea. I spotted a figure slowly strolling down from the direction of the street to the sea wall. I watched as the beautiful figure hopped from rock to rock with amazing balance and eventually fell down to the sand, landing on their feet and continuing unhurried down the beach. They turned their head towards the moon-a full moon illuminating the beach with a dim glow- and I could see the lines of their face, even from my distance.

_That figure is beautiful, indeed. _

I remembered her light-colored hair and black eyes as she smiled at me, her cheerfulness lighting up her entire aura.

_She's not wearing a sweater- she must be cold._

Smiling in anticipation, I jumped out of my bed and snuck outside to join her on the beach.

She heard me and waited for me to catch up to her.

"Court, it's freezing out." I said, giving her a look.

She smiled widely at me-revealing her perfectly white teeth that contrasted so beautifully against her dark skin.

"Don't worry about me," she replied, sounding happy.

I smiled slightly, back at her. Though I wasn't sure what was so particularly joyful about the moment.

We turned to where a plank had washed up on shore.

I gazed off over the ocean, just making out the outline of New York across the Sound.

Courtney occupied herself by walking across the plank as she watched me staring off at the sea.

"Hey, since when did you get such perfect balance?" I teased as she stepped easily across the thin plank without even trying.

Courtney laughed.

"I think it has something to do with the shape-shifting," she explained.

"No fair, I want some awesome agility," I mumbled, jokingly.

It seemed the goofy smile Courtney was wearing was permanently glued to her face. I don't remember her finding any of my jokes so funny before. Or at least, she never _showed_ that she thought they were funny.

"C'mon!" Courtney jumped off the plank and grabbed my wrist, "Let's climb the wall." She pulled me with her as she half-ran along the beach

I laughed as we reached the sea wall and she practically _flew_ up half of it.

"That's _SO_ unfair," I stated.

She came back down and offered her hand,

"We can sit and watch the ocean," she declared, encouraging me to climb up the wall with her.

I grinned and ignored her hand, pulling myself up to where she was standing on the steep wall of smooth rocks.

She beamed and-persistently- grabbed my hand and dragged me up the rest of the wall.

We sat just below the top-dangerously in sight of the kitchen window (where our parents were)- and laughed as we watched a few seagulls fight over a fish, only to accidently drop the slippery creature back into the ocean.

"There goes lunch," I laughed, "Sucks for the seagulls."

She cackled with glee,

"Ahaha, more like _'there goes __**dinner**_**'**. Then again, it is rather late for even that…." She turned to look behind us at our house.

We could both clearly see the silhouettes of our parents arguing.

I felt pain watching them.

Courtney sighed as she turned back to the breath-taking view of the sea.

I let my attention fall back on her and bit my lower lip, knowing our parents were the only sore spot we've never discussed in great depth.

Especially since the arguing.

Only the primal sense of discomfort alerted me that she, too, was grieving over their pain.

_Both of our parents have gone through divorces already. _

And the worst part?

Even if in some selfish part of our hearts we hoped their arguing would lead to a divorce so we could be together less scandalously: they would never break up.

We know that this marriage is final and everlasting.

We're breaking more rules then we can count.

And yet…I feel at peace about it all right now. I didn't earlier-up in my bedroom listening to them. _Then_ I felt like I was going to die.

But now I feel like everything's alright. Like back _at home_. Back before this all started, when I lived in Oregon with my little brother (Alexander), my mom (Lesi)…and my dad.

"Court," I stole her attention away from the waves, "When I'm alone with you, I feel like I'm back in Oregon." I confessed.

Her black eyes pierced through my chest, attacking my heart she always does.

Her expression changed after I spoke to warmth- still attacking my heart, nonetheless.

She didn't say anything, just watching me as I looked between her, the ocean, and my shoes. I ran my hands through my hair a few times, too.

"Do…" I turned to her as she began to speak, but she trailed off, never breaking eye contact with me- even though she seemed to be looking at something off in the distance. "Do you wish we'd fall in love and be together like this forever?" She seemed like she honestly wanted to know what I wanted, not just looking for some answer to make her feel better.

And I took my answer right from my feelings, right from my heart, and from what I _knew_ to be true:

"All the time."

Courtney's warm breath could be seen in the air as the night got colder.

"So do I," she breathed.

I smiled and considered kissing her. Her face twisted as she thought for a second,

"But I want to go back home."

"Where?" I asked, thinking her family had lived on Long Island all their lives.

She looked out to the sea for a second,

"I used to live in Washington. That's where my mom divorced my dad and left him. I know I never said anything about it before, but it really bothers my dad and Ren. I moved here only right before you did, when I was five. My dad grew up here."

"What was Washington like?" I asked, hoping not to ask anything that was too sensitive.

She chuckled,

"I don't know. The only thing I can remember is that it was really, _really_ green. Well, and that Ren and my dad were happier."

A thought itched at the back of my head, but I couldn't put my finger on what it was.

"I'm sorry that it was so tough for them."

"Yeah. Well, I guess our parents found each other."

I swallowed, bracing myself for the conversation I was about to start.

"It's not fun listening to them fight," I began. Courtney nodded,

"Ugly business."

"It really makes me feel…small. Unnecessary."

"…In the way," Courtney added, noting her own feelings of the fighting between our parents.

"It's tough," I looked down at my feet again.

There was a pause and then Courtney's hand was on my shoulder,

"You're never in my way, and you're necessary to me," she spoke. I turned to her and smiled.

"Maybe we should…" Then- suddenly- a memory from the library yesterday came rushing into my mind. "Washington."

"What?"

"Washington. The Quileute Reservation. It's in Washington!" I played with the possibility of Courtney being from there after all.

"Are you saying that I'm wrong? That my parents might have actually been from the Quileute tribe?"

"Not wrong," I said, running through scenarios in my head, "Just that you've been lied to."

"Lied to?" Courtney sounded disgusted with the idea.

I looked up at her again,

"Seriously, Court. This could answer so many of your questions if we could just figure it out."

She nodded and I looked down at my feet again, repeating what I could remember from the Quileute Legends book under my breath as I tried to think of a solution.

She put her hand over mine.

An idea came to me.

"Are you sure _both_ of your parents are not Quileute?"

Courtney nodded,

"Absolutely positive."

I frowned,

"Okay. That was the only hunch I had."

She frowned.

"There is a source…a very intimidating source, that we could go to. Right now."

"Where?"

"In our house, second floor, third room on the left."

"Ren?" I wasn't sure if waking **her** up would be a good idea, but if Courtney says so…

We ran back to the house and tip-toed quietly up to Ren's room.

Courtney was afraid knocking would wake everyone else up, so she went right in and shook Ren awake.

"Ren!"

"What…?" Ren sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Why are you two in my room?" Her high-pitched voice sounded scary when she was angry.

"We need your help," I explained. Courtney began,

"When we lived in Washington, did you ever see the Quileute Reservation or anything?"

Ren blinked,

"Yeah. We lived close to it."

"How close?" Courtney asked.

Ren shrugged,

"An hour or so."

"Did Courtney ever visit the rez when she was a baby?" I asked.

Ren hesitated, looking like she was unsure about something.

"No," she finally said.

"Ren…" Courtney could tell her sister was hiding something.

"Are both of your parents not related to the Quileute tribe _at all_?" I pressed.

Ren looked between us, looking panicky.

"Why are you guys so worried about this?" She asked, sounding a little frantic, "And why are you up so late together?"

"It's very important to Courtney," I told her, giving her a stern look.

Ren glanced between me and Courtney and then finally snapped.

"Okay, okay. I'll tell you but you have to swear you'll never tell dad." We both nodded. "Courtney was born in the Quileute Rez and we adopted her."

Courtney and I both looked at each other. "I'm sorry we kept it hidden but Dad always said it was best you never knew. I tried to tell you a few times but there was never a right way to-"

"It's okay," Courtney said, sounding strong, "You've just made my life a whole lot easier. C'mon, Jack." She grabbed my wrist again and we quickly left Ren's room and went to my own.

"I need to meet some people from the rez," Courtney said, not sounding calm at all.

I agreed.

"It's very important that you know as much about this wolf thing as you can. Maybe there's even some shape shifters still in the tribe."

"I can't believe I was adopted!" Courtney cried desperately, tears filling her eyes as she looked away from me at the wall.

"It's alright," I assured her, stepping in close to her and hugging her. "We'll figure this out."

We heard something shattered in our parents' bedroom and raised, angry voices erupted at once.

We looked at each other and I devised a plan.

"We're going to runaway." I announced to her. She nodded, a tear sliding down her cheek,

"I was going to say the same thing."

Then she started shaking and pushed me away from her.

"I'm so sorry," She said, pained, as she leaped out my window.

I ran and leaned out of my window, just in time to see a wolf disappear into the darkness.

"_SO_ unfair…"

**Pretty please review with a cherry on top! More action coming up!**

_**-riamwrite**_


	5. Carbon Dream

Chapter Five: 'Carbon Dream'

_-Burning At Midnight-_

Song: 'California' by Metro Station

__---___--_JCjc_-- ___ ---

As a new group of commuters pushed their way into the small train car, many eyed the teenagers in suspicion and curiosity. The boy had on a gray hoodie and jeans that matched oddly with his gray-blue eyes. He avoided eye contact with any of the strangers and kept one hand in his pocket and the other gripped tightly to a metal pole to keep his balance as the train moved again. The teenage girl had on a brown and pink zip-up sweat-shirt and jeans on and was sitting on the floor of the train with both of her hands nestled in the pockets of her light sweater and her short light brown hair cascading down her face, shielding her closed eyes as she dozed.

A backpack was being held between them in a cautious manner. The boy seemed apprehensive of robbers while the girl-although napping- appeared uncannily on guard.

Jack and Courtney were running away.

Courtney's Point of View

Rest had been little last night. I feared for everything but was too determined in this mission to back down.

I lifted my head and allowed my dark eyes to capture Jack's.

"Are you nervous?" he asked hesitantly, trying to keep the other passengers from overhearing.

"What about Alexander? It can't be fair of us to leave him," I responded, fiddling with the train ticket in my pocket. _Jack's poor little brother._

Jack looked hurt, staring now at the floor. My heart skipped, panicking that I had somehow inflicted pain on him. Jack spoke before I could think of what to say.

"Alexander will be okay. Permanently scarred for life, probably, but so was I and I'm okay. And so were you, and you're perfectly normal…." He caught what he said and we shared a smirk, "_Ish_," he clarified.

It felt good to see him smile.

"Give or take the fur. And the claws. And the sharp teeth. Come to think of it, the good hearing too and the strength and the agility-"

"You're a freak show." Jack was making a disgusted face at me, most likely picturing me as a beastly-looking wolf.

I could see a few people staring at us more obviously now.

I cracked a smile,

"I don't look so bad." I paused for a bit and then decided now was the time to point out something to Jack. "Actually there's a sort of a deal we need to make."

Jack's face relaxed from the disgusted look.

"Deal?" His sweet voice rang.

"Think about what would happen if a human body morphed into a much bigger, much different shape."

"…Yes?"

"No, I mean really picture it. Think about every aspect of the transformation."

"Are you trying to tell me it's painful? I get that."  
"No, no." Jack was under the belief I wanted him to realize I was going through so much more than him. "Don't just think about what's going on _inside_ of the body, also outside. Like everything around them."

"…Messy?"

I gave up with the subtle hints.

"Clothes. What happens to the _clothes_, Jack?"

Jack put the puzzle pieces together and hit his head,

"Oh! Stupid of me."

"If that keeps happening, I'll run out of clothes."

"And we don't have money to buy more," he added.

"Exactly. I need to make a deal with you."

"…Will I like this deal? Can I say no?"

I was going to roll my eyes but my recently discovered softer side for Jack took over,

"I won't make you agree. You might like this deal."

Jack nodded,

"Shoot," he encouraged me.

I glanced at the other people, some ignoring us, others assuming we were extreme role-playing geeks. A couple little kids were staring.

I beckoned Jack to come closer with my finger. He leaned so his ear was close to my face.

"You're going to have to see me naked," I whispered into his ear.

Jack laughed and leaned away from me again,

"I'm not sure if I should be excited or scared!"

I laughed at his teenager-boy response.

"Let me explain," I laughed, having him lean closer again.

"Ok now seriously. It's the only option I got. Since I can't really control when I phase, I'll just have to take off my clothes right before and since you'll be there anyway, I'll just give them to you. Also you'll need to bring me my clothing when I phase back. This is only in cases of when there's a bloodsucker around, though. Otherwise we can work around the 'you seeing me without clothing' bit."

Jack tried to hold back another immature chuckle.

He turned to whisper in my ear,

"Won't be such a big deal. Remember that time I accidently walked into your room when you were changing? I've seen you _without clothes_ before."

"I believe you've done that more than once."

"Every time followed by a flying object hitting my head and you screaming."

"I apologize. Those times were different, though, we were like eight."

"Sure," Jack leaned away from me again.

The train came to another stop.

"We get off here," Jack announced. I got up from the train floor and grabbed the backpack filled with all the money, clothes, and supplies we decided to bring. We went with as little as we could since we need to carry all of it and could buy stuff along the way. I suggested stealing things too but Jack was vehemently against the idea.

So I won't steal.

We got off the train and inhaled a deep breath of fuel exhaust. Jack coughed.

I put me hand on his shoulder,

"You ok?"

He nodded and coughed again. I led us away from the train, up on to the streets. So far we hadn't left New York, but we were off Long Island.

"Damn," Jack said, wrapping his arms around me from behind me, "It's dark out."

I examined the many street lights.

"What are you talking about?"

"It's dangerous," he explained. I understood now, he was scared.

"Don't worry about it. I'm like the incredible hulk. Are you cold?" I asked him, still not sure why he had wrapped his arms around me."

"I'll be okay," he mumbled, taking his arms off me and standing beside me instead. I grabbed his hand and asked where we are supposed to head next.

Jack moved out of the middle of the sidewalk and pulled out a paper.

"Okay, well, we haven't been gone long and our parents probably don't know we are gone yet. I mean, I don't think they've woken up to check on us."

"Poor Alexander," I mumbled.

Jack sighed and pointed to something on his paper.

"If we hitchhike or somehow get a car, we can take a highway straight through Pennsylvania and then on to Ohio. But otherwise, we may just have to head up to Canada and then into Michigan."

I squeezed his hand in reassurance as I sensed his anxiety.

"This is going to take awhile on foot, huh?"

He nodded gravely,

"Forty days is my estimate."

"Ew."

"I know."

"But thanks for estimating, anyway."

"You're welcome."

"Canada it is."

"Okay, well, if we do a lot of traveling today, it looks like our first stop well be at High Point State Park. You can do your wolf thing there and I can…camp out."

I felt bad.

"Oh no, I'll stay near you and keep you warm," I promised him.

He smiled,

"Thanks, Court. We also have to avoid police, security cameras, and people that may recognize us. So we'll stick to the woods once we get out of the city."

"One last thing. Do you think dad and your mom will know we ran away?"

Jack shifted his weight uncomfortably and then grabbed me on either side of my shoulders, guiding me into the shadowy corner of the street with him. There he kissed me longer than we had ever dared.

"We don't follow their rules anymore," he declared. I felt rebellious, he just looked strong-minded.

"And they'll know that," I agreed. I locked eyes with him and felt light-headed from our kiss.

"They'd know better then to think we were kidnapped," Jack concluded.

"So as far as anything matters anymore, we're not related?" I asked him.

He shook his head as he spoke,

"Never in a million years will I ever call you my sister again. We weren't blood related then. You and me are lovers and that's how it's going to be, I ain't turning back now so you just keep walking and I'll direct us along this mission. La Push _will_ see us."

Overcome with his willingness to help me- to help _us_, I hugged him, throwing my arms around his neck.

He placed a hand on my arms in shock.

"Jack, I could never ask for a better brother."

He laughed; my emotions were so powerful and I felt tears in my eyes.

"I'll be happy when you think of me as the best _boyfriend_." He undid my arms from around him and could tell he was now a lot colder.

"The very best boyfriend," I quickly amended. I wanted to kiss him again but a suspicious man was sending us sketchy looks from a nearby alley way so we started to head along the streets, walking at the fastest pace we could. I carried the backpack since it wouldn't tire me like it would Jack.

I wondered if I'd ever have to carry him. I would be glad to. Then I could run, too, and save us extra time.

But he wasn't slowing me down no matter what. Without him, I'd have no idea how to get to La Push.

Jack was essential to everything about me.

"I like running away with you," he said to me, sounding jubilant.

**AN:** thanks so much for reading! And pretty please review with a cherry on top!

**-Ria M. Wri**te


	6. Confess Darkness

Chapter Six: 'Confess Darkness'

_-Burning At Midnight-_

Song: 'Monster' by Skillet

__---___--_JCjc_-- ___ ---

Two young people-ages sixteen- went missing from their home sometime late last night. Their parents and two siblings are working with the police to find them. Details on the case have yet to be released. However, they are described as a male and a female, the male being Caucasian, having red-blonde hair and gray-blue eyes, average height, and a scar on his right shoulder blade. The female being Native American, having light brown hair, black eyes, and is said to be tall. If you have any information concerning their disappearance, please contact the authorities by calling the number below.

_-News broadcasted at 10:00 AM_

**Courtney's Point of View**

Keeping to the woods was a smart move. Very few eyes spotted us. We had made it to Highpoint State Park while it was dark out. Jumped a few fences, found a well-hidden spot to rest, and I phased into a monster.

_He really has no idea how scary I can be around a bloodsucker..._

I was ravenous. Jack and I had planned on buying food. But we hadn't.

Two rabbits hopped in the bushes nearby. My ears pricked at the sound of their fast-beating, tiny hearts.

I grew hungrier.

The thought wasn't as repulsive to me as I expected.

_Rabbit for dinner…_

_Yeah, I really AM a monster._

And it wasn't so hard to catch them. Took a few minutes, but I'm faster than most wolves so I didn't really need the experience in hunting critters that they would have had.

I padded back to where Jack was trying to keep a small fire going.

_Don't burn down the park_, I wanted to tease.

He saw me and I could see he was a little startled.

And he was probably disgusted at the bloody animal bodies I was clenching between my teeth.

I dropped the rabbits.

"Court, do you want me to try and cook those?"

I nodded. I was fine with eating them raw but that would most definitely make him sick. I tilted my head towards my clothes. He threw them to me. "Go change, then."

I made my way further back into the wood and phased. I was grossed out by the blood from the rabbits that was still on my face. Nonetheless, I pulled on my clothes and walked back over to Jack.

He had gotten the fire to grow and he was examining the rabbits.

"I suppose we have to skin them first," he told me.

"I'm starving."

He pulled out a bag of pretzels from the backpack.

"Here, we can eat these while we're trying to cook the rabbits…or whatever these things are."

"Thanks. You were right, they're rabbits."

"Gross," he muttered, using his pocketknife to pull off some of the skin. It looked more difficult then I expected.

Stuffing some pretzels in my mouth, I grabbed the other rabbit and searched the backpack for another knife.

It _was_ pretty difficult to cut off the skin. Thanks to my super strength, though, I didn't really have as much trouble as Jack.

"This is _so_ unsanitary," he said after a moment, lifting one of his hands up for me to see. It had blood from the rabbit on it. I laughed,

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. We'll wash our hands somehow afterwards."

"I bet we can find a river. And then use some hand sanitizer."

I finished with the rabbit and asked Jack for a towel we had brought. I placed the rabbit down on it and took Jack's rabbit from him, telling him I'd finish skinning it.

"Why don't you find a stick or something that we can use to tie the rabbits to so we can cook them on the fire?" I suggested to him.

"Good idea," he nodded, standing up and starting to look around for sticks.

I finished the second rabbit and placed it on the blanket. Jack came back with a few sticks. We choose the best one and he used some string we had brought to tie the rabbits to it. We both stood up and each held one end of the long stick over the fire to cook the rabbits.

"How do we know when they're done?" He pondered, "Should I just poke them or something?"

"Yeah, I guess so. You know, make sure there's no pink inside."

"Right…Hey, Courtney?"

"Yeah?"

"I think your dad and my mom are having the police search for us by now."

"Yeah. I hope Ren doesn't say too much. I mean, she could say something about how we asked about La Push…"

"But we won't be there for awhile. If they look there now they'll find nothing. And we aren't taking planes or anything. The best leads are if anyone saw us and remembers us from the train."

"Even then they don't know exactly where we headed."

"Right. So we're good," Jack concluded.

We turned over the rabbits.

"This doesn't smell like it's going to taste too bad," I noted.

"Maybe not for a wild animal like you, but for those of us who are civilized this is a bit foreign. Where are the pretzels?"

"Um…sorry but I ate them all."

"Man, Courtney. You eat like a wolf."

"Sorry."

"You better be."

"I'll make it up to you."

"Good."

Starting the next morning, Jack and I packed up and walked to our next destination: Jenksville State Forest.

We were able to stay in the woods the most time again-except for a bit of time in which we had to swim (I helped Jack because the current was rather strong and it was freezing.)

…well, okay, and we also had to walk through a little bit of this town called Milford. But we don't think anyone was really paying much attention to us.

We had to walk all night, too, and we finally got there 6'o'clock pm the next night.

We had bought food in that Milford town so we both just collapsed after we made camp, exhausted.

**AN:** thanks so much for reading and to everyone who reviewed! And pretty please review this chapter with a cherry on top!

-**Ria M. Write**


	7. Entwining Veins

Chapter Seven: 'Entwining Veins'

_-Burning At Midnight-_

Song: 'Rainbow Veins' by Owl City

_-_-_JCjc_- _ -

Late at night in the kitchen of a large house the color green stood two figures weeping: one, a little boy, the other, his mother. The little boy did not know what to do with his older brother having had runaway. Another person sat at the table, staring at the wall. The girl's younger sister had also gone missing. The father of the family stood outside, watching over the ocean. As a tear fell for his little girl, he wondered what had gone wrong.

**Jack's Point of View **

Carlton Hill State Forest had taken us almost 2 more days of traveling to arrive at. We were now very close to the border. Hopefully we could cross and cut through to Michigan. Going around would take a lot more time.

Currently, I was situated up in a tree, hiding out of view from anyone or any _thing_ that may be roaming the forest in this dark hour of the night. It had to be around 2 in the morning.

I had arranged the bag of supplies to hang in the tree on a branch within my reach. I wasn't on thickest branch in the world and I had to be careful where I leaned. I could very easily lose balance and fall. Still, my eyelids were heavy and every few seconds I'd have to force them open again.

Courtney was a wolf right now, lurking somewhere hopefully not too far away. I was starving. She had caught some squirrels a few hours ago that we had managed to eat some meat off of but I would be so happy if she brought back something more substantial and edible this time.

I was just about to lean too far to my left when the sound of crinkling leaves and wolf-like growls awoke me.

Startled, I had to quickly grab on to the branch to keep myself in the tree. I held my breath as I heard two animals running towards me. They stopped around the trunk of the tree.

It was dark so I panicked for a moment, not sure what the creatures were.

I focused my vision as hard as I could, just able to recognize Courtney's wolf form fur coat. The other wolf creature got closer and I could clearly see their entirely white fur.

A moment later, the new creature turned away from Courtney and moved into the woods.

Courtney went back into human form. She pulled on her clothing as I began whispering to her, still scared.

"What was just happening? What was that?"

_It was too tall to be a real wolf_.

"He just turned into a human."

"_He_? …Hey, help me down!"

"I can hear him coming back over here," Courtney whispered to me, taking my hand as I cut the bag loose and jumped from the tree.

A tall boy approached from the surrounding dark woods.

I squeezed Courtney's hand tight, cautious of the stranger.

The stranger spoke, but his words didn't sound at all familiar. I didn't like that I couldn't see his face very well in the shadows of the trees. It did comfort me though that I realized Courtney must be able to see him much clearer than I could.

Neither she nor I moved, his words making no sense to us. They sounded something like organized gibberish, another language.

He crossed his arms and spoke again,

"Hello? Your names?"

He had an accent. Maybe that's why I didn't understand what he had said the first time.

Courtney tried to wake herself from her daze, clearing her throat.

"I'm Courtney."

The boy looked to me.

"I'm Jack."

He nodded.

"…And you are…?" I asked him, still very wary of his intentions.

"CJ," he told us.

A silence fell among us, Courtney at lost of what she was supposed to do. She seemed to realize that if this means there really _are_ more people like her, then she knows none of the customs or anything, really.

"W-where are you from?" Courtney stuttered.

"Madrid. I was there last."

Her eyes widened,

"We just came from Long Island," she explained, "I-I didn't know if there were others…."

CJ peered at her oddly,

"Neither did I."

I exhaled, feeling a little more comfortable. He seemed honest.

"Where are you headed?" I asked.

"Here. I wanted to come to America."

"Not going anywhere next?"

He took a second to reply,

"Maybe somewhere I don't have so much hiding."

I chuckled,

"That's what _we're_ looking for."

"You are a wolf too?" He didn't seem to think I was.

"No. Only her," I looked towards Courtney.

"Then why do you hide?"

I looked down at my feet, not sure if I wanted to tell CJ the answer to his question.

"We ran away," I stated simply.

"Ah." CJ acted like he understood. He was probably also a run away.

"Do you know of a place where we don't have to hide?" Courtney asked the young man, curiously.

"I heard two of those…those….Do you hunt _those things_?"

Courtney nodded, knowing exactly what he was talking about,

"We think they're vampires," she told him. I could tell she knew she found someone who could relate to everything she was going through. Quickly, I moved my eyes away from their faces, trying to stomp out the spark of jealousy in my heart.

"Vampires," he mumbled. "I was hunting one and I heard him talking to another one. They said there were some who change into wolves here, in America."

Courtney sounded excited,

"Yeah, we found out there might be some in Washington. A native tribe who can turn into wolves."

"Really? How far is Washington?"

Courtney looked at me,

"How much farther?" she asked me. I forced myself to look at them again,

"We're still in New York, Courtney," my tone wasn't as kind as it should have been. I quickly fixed it, "We have almost 2,700 miles left still."

"That's not far," CJ said.

I looked at him, letting my expression portray how insane I thought he was.

Courtney looked at me, then at CJ,

"We have been walking," she explained.

"Oh. Why? It would take only a few days if we ran, and that's running slowly and taking breaks…"

"Jack," She told him, "he can't run."

"Can't we just carry him?"

'_We' ?_

"Court and I are just fine. We have a plan." Once again, I immediately regretted my words. Courtney noticed my unfriendly mood. She kept her eyes on me and drew circles with her thumb on the back of my hand that she was still holding.

"It was nice meeting you, but we have to get some sleep now," she told CJ, her eyes not leaving my face.

"Oh. Sorry." CJ turned and began walking away.

I inhaled and found my patience,

"No, stay. Please. This is a good hiding spot in the forest."

_We could use someone else. Especially if they know things about vampires and the shapeshifters_.

"And if you want, you can travel with us to the tribe," I added.

CJ walked back over to us,

"Thanks."

**AN:** Thanks so much for reading and to everyone who reviewed last chapter! This story will be updated more often for now on.

And pretty please review _this chapter_ with a cherry on top! =)

-**Ria M. Write **


	8. Reading Spanish

Chapter Eight: 'Reading Spanish'

_-Burning At Midnight-_

Song: 'Read My Mind' by The Killers

_-_-_JCjc_- _ -

The purple-orange sky felt envious; its beauty was surpassed by two magnificently rare animals admiring the astonishing scene of falling water before them. Lying out of sight, the large wolves' fur coats kept them warm as the wind blew relentlessly towards them. Watching the falls, the adolescent shapeshifters wondered what would become the next part of their journey.

**Courtney's Point of View**

"No duermes mas." CJ's words awoke me. He stood over me, seemingly unaware that I had not understood him.

Jack was still asleep beside me. I looked at CJ in confusion.

"Morph into your wolf," he told me.

"Why?"

He pointed towards the Falls, which we had basically passed early on our way over the U.S. and Canadian border.

Quickly, I got up and looked around to make sure Jack would be okay. I knew he would be but I had to let myself check.

Putting another blanket over him, I moved behind some trees and took off my clothes before changing into a wolf.

Catching up with CJ (who was taller than me even in our wolf forms,) he showed me under an under-hang next to the waterfalls. When we got there, he laid down and motioned with his eyes for me to do the same. I did.

The view was so breath-taking.

_I wish Jack was here to see this_.

"_He would be too cold and the people would see him." _I could barely hear a voice say. I turned to CJ, surprised and confused that someone was talking to me. He looked at me back, blankly.

_Is there someone behind us?_

"_I smell no one."_

CJ's eyes now held a similarly shocked expression.

_What's going on? _

"_We can, we can hear each others thoughts!" _

_Why? How did this happen?_

"_Wolves? Do they hear thoughts?"_

_I don't know. I've definitely never heard a wolf talk. Maybe they _are_ telepathic. _

For a second, I heard a lot of Spanish.

"_Sorry. I was trying to remember what 'telepathic' means."_

_Oh, that's right. You speak English so well I almost forget that you probably don't know all of my English words sometimes. _

"_No, I do. I just have to remember them."_

_Where did you learn? At school?_

"_No. I never really went to school. I learned at a church."_

…_church? Like…God or whatever?_

"_Yeah."_

_Ok…why were you there? _

"_I lived there, until I was 10 years." _

_You lived in a church? How come? _

"_I'm an orphan." _

_Oh. So how'd you hear of the shapeshifters here?_

"_I heard two vampires talking about them." _

_Right…_

"_How did you and Jack come to be?"_

…_ummmmm_ I felt embarrassment drown out my other senses. Before I had a chance to really think about what to tell him, my thoughts went rampant and he got the gist of everything.

"_Ah."_

Lucky for him, his thoughts were naturally in Spanish, meaning I only understood what he decided to put into English for me.

However, mine were utterly and completely exposed to him.

We looked back out at the sunset. I felt a sense of excitement emerge within me.

_I haven't even reached La Push and I've found someone like me._

CJ turned to me, looking at me. I looked at him. His thoughts raged about in Spanish, but in his eyes I could see he was smiling. He shared my excitement about the rest of the trip.

I turned my head in the direction of our camp, my heart reminding me I shouldn't leave Jack for so long. I bowed my head,

_Thank you._

CJ bowed his head in return. I began moving back towards Jack, one huge wolf-paw at a time.

**AN:** Pretty please review _this chapter_ with a cherry on top!

Also, be sure to listen to the songs that go along with each chapter =)

-**Ria M. Write **


	9. Burning Sunlight

Chapter Nine: 'Burning Daylight'

_-Burning At Midnight-_

Song: 'Sunburn' by Owl City

Light rushed through the stain glass windows. Nothing in the chapel refused the enemy of darkness, allowing the sun to stretch between each pew and reflect off the many statues and shiny decorations. Alas, the sunlight met with the golden tabernacle, and the man dressed in white and black, praying at the altar, awoke from his meditation. Seeing the wrinkles on his hands, he was reminded of the youth he had helped. One in particular came to mind…one who had run away.

_Carlos_.

**Jack's Point of View**

It would be dishonest if I said I had fully accepted CJ's presence in our traveling. I do feel bad about being jealous. However, it did not help that I awoke to the second day since he had joined to find him sleeping on the other side of Courtney in his wolf form.

Even if I excused the close proximity, I would still be upset with the fact that he appeared to be _protecting_ us. His defensive composure could be perceived as possessive.

Besides jealousy, suspicion ran through me every time I was forced to look at him.

_What exactly is he thinking? What does he intend to do?_

Courtney awoke after me, lifting her head from my shoulder.

It was then that CJ noticed we were awake. He turned his head towards us and got up, leaving into the woods.

Courtney rubbed her eyes and yawned as she looked at me. Her eyes didn't leave me even as CJ came back, now a human.

I became self-conscious with her gaze.

"…My hair must…look weird," I played with my hair, trying to straighten it out. She watched me,

"You look nice," she said, sounding distant.

Awkwardness stung me when I caught CJ's staring from the corner of my eye.

When he realized I had seen him, he immediately turned away.

"…Court, are we gonna be heading off soon? A flashlight died so maybe we shouldn't go in the dark."

Courtney still had a sort of lost look in her eyes. Not really answering my question, she kissed me on the cheek and said,

"We can walk in daylight today."

"It will be hot," CJ stated, his back still to us.

…_great. He's a freakin' weather man. _

Soon we were on the streets, feeling freer than we had ever before. Not only were we away from our parents, but no one was looking for us in Canada.

There was mostly farm land that we passed.

Trying to keep up with their relentlessly large strides, I followed slightly behind Courtney and CJ. Every so often Courtney would realize she was walking too fast for me, apologize profusely, and slow down.

When she did so, CJ would slow down a little too. He was taller than Courtney and I, therefore having longer legs. His hair was also longer than mine, almost covering his eyes. I suspected this was why his fur was so long while he was a wolf. His skin was equally dark as Courtney's, but with a slightly orange tint.

His eyes were brown and although he was muscular, he was very lean.

"CJ," I spoke, getting his attention. He looked at me, expectantly. "What does 'CJ' stand for?"

"Carlos Joham."

"…That's interesting."

"Mhm."

"Jack…" Courtney began, slowing down her for me and taking my hand, "I haven't told you about last night yet."

"…Last night? …What happened last night?" I looked at CJ once again suspiciously.

"CJ and I were in our wolf bodies and we were able to read each others thoughts," she told me.

"…What did you find out?" I asked, now cautious of what secrets they kept between them.

"Don't worry," CJ told me, "Nothing about you."

I glared at him.

_Is he implying Courtney doesn't think about me?_

"CJ is a run away too," Courtney told me, not noticing my glare.

"What _did_ _you_ find out?" I asked CJ, accusingly.

CJ paused for a moment and then started chuckling,

"Just what she looks like in a mirror…"

Courtney and I said nothing, confused.

"Naked," he added.

I let go of Courtney's hand,  
"You disgusting pig!"

"I'm just joking!" He quickly said, laughing.

"That's a crude, gross, inappropriate joke! What is WRONGwith you!"

"Jack! I'm sorry, I know of nothing like that, I swear."

"Just don't even talk to me!" I exclaimed

Courtney grabbed my hand,

"Please, Jack, don't get angry! He didn't mean to be offensive. Can he at least apologize?"

"Oh, I'm not saying sorry," CJ stated.

I looked harshly at Courtney,

"How could I forgive something like that?"

"Jack, listen! This is ridiculous, you have different senses of humor. Let's forget about it, please."

I continued to look at her, not letting my eyes drift to CJ.

She smiled, making me feel better.

"I love you," she whispered.

I know this was a stupid time to get carried away with my feelings, but she was so adorable.

"I love you too."

CJ stood a few feet away from us, his arms crossed, watching.

"I will try to be friends with you," he said to me. He wasn't apologizing, but he was stepping down all the same.

I still felt hurt, though. They had something, a bond. I wasn't a part of it. Somehow suddenly, Courtney seemed further away.

I wiped a bead of sweat off my forehead. It _was_ hot.

Thank you for reading. And pretty please REVIEW with a cherry on top! =)

-Ria M. Write


	10. Sleeping Dreams

Chapter Ten: Sleeping Dreams

_-Burning At Midnight-_

Song: 'Sleeping In' by The Postal Service

_A hospital room filled with people. A mother held her newborn child. Her other daughter stood by the bed, smiling and laughing at the faces the baby was making. The father had his arm around his wife, watching his two daughters. The family would stay together forever, happy. _

**Courtney's Point Of View**

The daylight shone through my eyelids, a crimson color flooding my vision.

"_Ugh_." I turned on my side, covering my face with my hands.

"She's awake." CJ's voice announced.

"Court…you feel okay?" Jack's hand was on my shoulder now.

I forced my eyes to open. I wanted to see him.

I nodded, slowly.

CJ was standing with his arms crossed somewhere behind me,

"We should get walking. With the pace you two 've been making us go, we'd be lucky if we get there this year."

"I don't want to walk," I said quietly, to Jack. CJ sighed.

Jack looked anxious,

"But we have to keep moving, Courtney."

"No we don't," I shook my head, closing my eyes again.

"Court, remember the police are looking for us? La Push could answer all your—_our_ questions!"

"No questions," I mumbled, drifting back into sleep.

"No…What! What are you talking about, Court? We've got to find out about the whole shapeshifter thing! And who your parents are!" Jack shook me a little.

"My parents…" I thought back to the dream I was having right before I woke up. I had just been born, and my family was surrounding me.

"She's the worst group leader ever, can I just say that?" I heard CJ tell Jack. Jack's hand slid off my shoulder.

"Shut up, CJ."

"No, really. We could literally _be there_ by now."

"No, I can't turn into a furry animal thing. _That's_ what is making this take so long."

"It doesn't help that she won't even wake up when we are supposed to be walking at a pace you can keep up to!"

"Go ahead and run to La Push. _Go ahead_," Jack finally told CJ. I reached my hand out and held it with Jack's.

"No."

"No? Why the heck would you stand there and complain and then not just _leave_ if we're so annoying?"

CJ didn't say anything in response.

"That's you're response? You _shrug_? That's it?"

I held Jack's hand tighter, trying to get him to drop the argument with CJ.

"Jack," I whispered to him. I could feel him lean close to me so he could hear what I was saying. "Lay down. We can walk more tomorrow."

"Court…"

"We can relax today. Take a break."

"Courtney, we're still in Canada."

"That means no one is looking for us. It's perfect."

"I don't know if we should just do nothing for an entire day…"

I opened my eyes again,

"Jack, _please_. You have bags under your eyes. You're tired. Rest with me." I lifted my arms up to place them around him.

Finally, he obliged and laid down next to me.

I couldn't see CJ, but he didn't say anything or leave. I feel back asleep while he was still standing. I wondered what he was thinking.

**Thanks so much for reading! Pretty Please Review! =) **

**-Ria M. Write **


	11. Leaving Tears

Chapter Eleven: Leaving Tears

_-Burning At Midnight-_

Song: 'Leave Out All The Rest' by Linkin Park

_The light had changed; from bright, to dim, to gone. The pale glow of the moon provided little help to vision. Clothing piled near a tree, three people braved the night's chilly water, desperate for baths. No longer could the three missing teenagers be found in Canada. They had made it to Annandale, Minnesota- the travel costing them a week in time. _

**Jack's Point of View**

Courtney swam next to me. I could hear the water fall back into Lake Clearwater as she wrung it from her hair. I was startled when she put her hand on my back,

"Look, Jack! The lake is so beautiful at night. It's almost like the Sound at home…" Her voice picked up a nostalgic tone as she spoke.

I looked out at the lake,

"Yeah, it does look a lot like home. But it's difficult to really see without a flashlight-" Courtney caught me off-guard, kissing me when I turned my face back towards hers.

It only lasted a second, though.

"Sorry, did I scare you?"

"Just surprised me."

"You didn't see me?" She asked, confused.

"…No. Court, it's _dark_ out. The moon's a sliver the size of a hair!"

She giggled at my exaggeration,

"I forgot you can't see as well as me anymore."

"Yes, because you're some beast thing now," I teased her.

"And I'm sure you meant that in the most romantic way ever," she laughed.

"How can that be romantic?"

"Beauty and the Beast," CJ cut in. I heard the water moving as he swam towards us. "Mr. Beauty."

Courtney laughed,

"Be nice, CJ." I felt her warm breath on my cheek as she leaned in closer to me, "Even though you are beautiful."

I blushed, thankful that the dark concealed my cheeks' change of color.

CJ chuckled,

"Look, he's turning pink."

My embarrassment deepened. That's when I realized CJ could see Courtney clearly, as she bathed in her minimal clothing. I myself was only wearing cut-off pants.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure CJ was wearing much of anything at all.

Courtney bopped CJ on the head,

"Stop it, CJ! Let me and Jack be alone."

I heard him swim away.

"…Court?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Alexander hates me?"

"What?"

"You know, for running away and leaving him. I mean, I am his older brother and I was really all he had…"

Courtney wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me.

"I know. We left him. But we're not gone forever. One day, after we make it to the reservation and I figure all this out, we'll be there for him again."

"Do you think he'll understand? He'll forgive me?"

"…I don't know. But I'm here for you, Jack. And I owe you everything and everything over again for being with me now."

I hugged her back tightly,

"Right. I'm here for you now. That's why we're doing this. Because I want to be here for you…Because _I love you_."

Courtney's breath stopped for a moment,

"I love you too, Jack," she whispered, leaving a kiss on my neck. "…Alexander will admire you for helping me. He'll understand. I'll tell him about how awesome you are."

I smiled,

"Thanks. Now let's get CJ and get out of this lake before someone sees us."

She giggled,

"Yup. Good idea."

"SEE-JAY!" I yelled, towards the direction I heard him swim away to.

"JAH-ACK!" He mock-yelled back, somehow now right behind me.

I jumped, once again startled. He laughed, "Yo. Where we headin' next?"

I laughed, finally getting used to his humor,

"La Push."

"Really?"

"No."

"_Awww._"

Courtney smiled.

**Thanks for reading and pretty please ****review****! Updating is not my priority if there are no reviews. **


	12. Rushing Theories

Chapter Twelve: Rushing Theories

_-Burning At Midnight-_

Song: 'My Best Theory' Jimmy Eat World

_-_-_JCjc_- _ -

_The itch in your throat was burning, from deep near your chest up to the back of your mouth; the thirst inflaming your entire esophagus. Leaping- you reached high in the air, dropping down again on the roof of a building. Quickly, you make your way through the city. No one seems to be awake. A few cars roll by, the sent of the humans inside them digging into your throat, worsening the already insufferable burning. Finally, you spot a car leaving the city. Two humans are inside. Excited with the find, you jump along the shadows after them until they park off the road. You pause, waiting to see if they'll get out of the vehicle. A moment later, the quiet sounds of kissing emerge. Ripping off the passenger's side's door, you lunge forward and sink your teeth into the closest neck. The blood cools the burning sensation, and you patiently await to finish draining the boy's body before moving on to the screaming girl. _

**Courtney's POV**

It had been night for awhile. I walked close to Jack, keeping my pace slow for him. CJ was next to him too, though he was having more difficulty walking slowly.

"You would think you two would be a little more dedicated to this whole journey thing," he commented, looking at Jack's feet. Jack's steps were getting shorter and shorter.

"Why are you in such a rush?" Jack asked him.

"And we _are_ dedicated," I insisted.

"Not really. This could have been over ages ago. And I'm in a rush because I want to know what is going on out there in _La Push_ (which by the way is a weird name,) that can explain what's happening with me and Court."

_Yeah. We're on a nickname-calling-basis now._

"So the question still stands: why don't you just go on ahead?" Jack asked.

CJ didn't respond.

"Oh _Siege-y_! Anyone home?" Jack knocked on CJ's head.

"Hey!" he fixed his hair, "I'm just thinking. Shh."

Jack rolled his eyes.

"I…Hmmm, I want to travel with you two. I don't want to have to go alone. But it's more than just that, like, it would feel wrong to leave you two behind."

"See? I told you he wasn't completely shameless," I teased Jack.  
"Yeah well it's more difficult for me to believe, you can read his thoughts after all and I can't," Jack reminded me.

"How much longer until we get to this Miles City?" CJ asked Jack.

Jack pulled out his map,

"Well, we're actually not going there. We're going to the Pirogue Island State Park on the other side of this river thing from that. The state park is actually closer than the city, if that makes you feel any better."

"Cool. So, how much longer?"

"Actually we should be almost right next to it by-" I looked on to Jack's map as he spoke.

"You smell that?" I looked up to find CJ suddenly ferocious-looking, shaking. His question was panicky and I could sense how extremely anxious he was. I sniffed the air, my adrenaline rushing because CJ was scaring me. After what felt like ages in the tense, ominous air (but was really only a split second,) I picked up the trace scent that CJ seemed to detect so strongly- _vampire_.

As the thoughts of the menacing hunters flashed through my mind, I started shaking too. CJ saw that I could smell _it_ too and his eyes filled with a deep, deep hate. I knew he couldn't stand vampires. Somehow, the loathsome look in his eyes was comforting to me. _Someone_ gave them what the murderous creatures deserved. _Someone_ empathized for all the souls that the viscous monsters had taken, tortured, and turned. I growled, my feel of our companionship growing.

Nodding to me once, though it was distinguish the movement with him already shaking from head to foot, he lunged forward, leaping into mid-air, landing already transformed. In a split second, I joined him, barely able to glance back a 'good-bye' to Jack as my instinctual passion for the hunt set in.

We ran at frightening speed, quickly approaching the surprised murderer, his teeth sunken deep into the still warm throat of a young man in a car next to a girl crying with horror.

CJ immediately jumped at the car, denting and tipping it as his teeth and claws lashed out at the vampire man. In the same instance, the man tried to flee out of the other side of the car, pushing himself over the girl. I rushed over to the side, looking for the best way to attack. Before the vampire could escape the car, CJ pushed it over on its side, trapping the door against the road. The vampire hissed, about to punch through the ceiling of the car. However, the human girl had hit her head when CJ knocked over the car and blood was rushing from her skull. The still-hungry vampire looked back at her, licking his lips. CJ and I used the distraction to rip open the car. The vampire re-focused himself and flung himself at me, knocking the air from my lungs as he pinned me to the pavement.

**Please review! Thanks for reading! I will update soon! **


	13. Breaking Boulevard

Chapter Thirteen: Breaking Boulevard

_-Burning At Midnight-_

Song: 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams' _(clean version)_ by Green Day

_-_-JCjc-_-_

**Jack's Point of View**

I wandered in the dark. The State Park was near by but I didn't want to try and make a camp there without Courtney or CJ. As far as survival ability goes, they're the ones who keep us from being caught. I switched on my flashlight, seeing I was much closer to the road than I had realized.

_This is why I should have had my flashlight on the entire time._

CJ and Courtney prefer not to 'waste the battery' and insist that they'll make sure I don't walk into anything.

I looked back the way I came, shining the light on the torn pieces of clothing and shoes where CJ and Courtney had phased.

_We don't have enough money to get new shoes…_

I looked down at my own beat-up sneakers. They had been pretty new when Courtney and I first left Long Island. Now they wore holes in them. Courtney's and CJ's had looked even worse than mine.

Three hours past. By now I was getting annoyed. I couldn't help but feel like they had left me behind.

Running my hand through my hair (which badly needed a trim,) I pulled my legs closer to my chest, trying my best to stay calm.

"Jack?" Courtney's voice came from a few feet away; I turned my flashlight towards her. "No!" Her voice shot up to a higher pitch, "Where's my clothes?"

I blushed, dropping the flashlight and throwing the bag of clothing in her direction.

She laughed awkwardly,

"I should have warned you."

"It doesn't matter," I assured her.

She sat down across from me, wrapped in a blanket instead of putting on any clothes.

"…Court? What are you doing?..."

"…Sitting with you?"

"Okay…"

She leaned over and kissed my cheek.

"Put on some clothes please," I sounded like I was begging. I burned with further embarrassment.

She seemed confused and hurt,

"I have to morph in a minute, I thought you wouldn't want me to ruin more clothes," she explained.

"Oh. Sorry."

"It's okay…I'm really sorry CJ and I took off like that. He's still out there, trying to track the vampire so we can try attacking him again. I came back for you."

"For me? Hold on- you want me to _go with you_?"

She shook her head,

"I'm afraid you'll get hurt. I came back to give you food and to make sure you're okay. Plus…I missed you."

"Of course you did. I miss you all the time. We're used to traveling together," I told her.

"No, well….I mean…Well, it was distracting CJ. You know, because we share thoughts. He would be trying to concentrate on the hunt and I'd be thinking about you instead."

"Ah." I didn't want to say anything that would embarrass me further.

Courtney got up and grabbed something on the ground where she was standing before.

"I figured this would be enough for you to eat," she dropped some sort of small rodent next to me.

I forced myself to smile,

"Thanks."

Courtney gave a small smile back. She walked away from my eyesight, in the darkness. I heard the blanket fall to the ground.

"Wait here; it's safe. I'll be back soon," she promised.

Four paws bounded away.

I peered down at the raw meat.

I hated it.

From the beginning, I had been planning and planning, studying maps, calculating distance, _walking_ for miles and miles.

All so that Courtney could have a better life. So that Courtney could know what was happening to her. So she wouldn't have to be frightened anymore. So she wouldn't have to feel like a monster anymore. So she could have a home where there was more peace than just endless conflict.

_And then they go off and slow us down. _

CJ says that _I_ slow them down. Yet _they're _the ones who get side tracked. At least I'm always staying focused. Courtney would rather take naps and chase vampires. CJ whines and makes us walk even _more_ to look for lakes to bath in because he's insanely OCD about looking good all the time.

And the worst part is-the most _frustrating_ part is that, this journey isn't even difficult for them! They could run for miles and not be tired. _I_ have to force myself to keep walking. _I_ have to suffer through cooking and eating gross, wild food.

_And they can't even stay focused on the stupid map! They won't even follow my planned path!_

I narrowed my eyes, angry at the dead animal I was supposed to eat.

_No_.

"I'm going into the city and eating at a restaurant."

Defiantly, I grabbed our bags and marched in the direction of Miles City.

I followed the Mountain Highway to the bridge, feeling lucky there was a space to walk next to the traffic. Covering my head with my hoodie, I carried the bags on my back and prayed no one would find me suspicious.

After the bridge, I took a left and wandered down some residential streets. I didn't see any open stores.

It had been almost two hours when I reached an intersection with a church at one corner. Tired and just wanting to sit down, I crossed over to North Montana Avenue and quietly approached the tall building. It was a sort of orange-ish color with a small staircase leading up to the door. A sign called it "Sacred Heart Parish." There was another building right next to the church, looking like a rectory or something.

I walked past the sign, following a side walk leading back along the side of the church. I sat down and closed my eyes, trying to relax. My imagination took over. I pictured Courtney and I at the reservation, having gotten there sooner than we ever expected. She was so happy that I had helped her. She had friends who were also shapeshifters, and they were friends with me, too. No one was looking for us; our parents didn't come after us. We were living on our own, _together_.

Something ran down my cheek. It started raining. _We're never getting to La Push…_

More raindrops fell on my face. I yawned, realizing I had just been dreaming. I opened my eyes, looking to see how many rain clouds there were.

Instead I saw Courtney's face, staring down at me. It was bright out- daytime.

I had fallen asleep.

Courtney's eyes were all red and puffy, but she did her best offering me a smile when I saw her.

"Court? Why are you crying?" I sat up, worried.

She shook her head,

"Don't worry about me," she wiped her face dry.

"Too late. Tell me."

"You left. We couldn't find you. I-I was so scared."

Suddenly, all of my insides were trampled to death guilt.

"I'm sorry," I immediately choked out, "Court-" I reached out to her, both of my hands trying to grab her closer to me. She complied, falling down to her knees to squish her body with mine. I buried my head on her shoulder, trying to not start crying myself.

"I need you," she whispered to me.

I looked up and saw CJ standing about ten feet away, trying to pretend he couldn't hear us. He was peering off in the other direction.

"CJ!" I called. He turned towards me.

"Wha?" He acted surprised.

"You kill the vampire?"

He smiled,

"Tore it to pieces."

Courtney pulled away and smiled too,

"It was freakin awesome."


	14. Nimble Speeding

Chapter Fourteen: Nimble Speeding

_-Burning At Midnight-_

Song: 'Shark In the Water' by V.V. Brown

**Courtney's Point of View **

"You want us to drive in that?" Jack asked CJ and I, as we walked up to where CJ had parked the car.

"It's a good idea," CJ insisted, "We'll move a lot faster than we are _now_."

"The roof is all ripped," Jack stated.

"We can get some duct tape," CJ answered.

"There's a dent in the side," Jack raised his eyebrows at the car's beat-up condition.

"Well you know what?" CJ didn't really know what to say to that. "We'll fix it when we get to La Push."

"Duct tape won't really fix the roof, CJ," I said, "Maybe we should just keep the top down."

"And risk being recognized?" Jack complained. I took his hand.

"No, but, Jack…we'd look _so cool_!" CJ sounded excited.

"This is a bad idea." Jack wasn't going to get into the beat-up convertible with us.

CJ patted his shoulder,

"Well, then, have fun walking," he moved towards the car and opened the driver side door, "It's faster than us walking and the owner is dead. We might as well use it."

"Yeah, it's in fine shape," I agreed. But as I spoke, the passenger's side door fell off.

Jack rolled his eyes,

"No."

"Oops, I thought I fixed that…" CJ said, walking over to the door and attempting to put it back on. "um, _Ye_ah…we're gonna need some tape…a lot of tape…"

"Jack, this will make it so you don't have to walk anymore," I said to him. I didn't want him to have to walk anymore, I could tell his legs were tired and there were circles under his eyes.

"Hey, I guess you're awake." CJ was talking to something inside the car. Jack widened his eyes and ran over to see what was in the car. I was right behind him,

"Jack, let us explain-"

"What the hell, CJ? You stole a girl too?" Jack exclaimed. Looking very scared and confused in the backseat of the car was a teenage girl a little older than us. Dried blood was in her hair and on the left side of her face.

Jack looked ready to kick CJ out of our group.

"No! I didn't steal her! I didn't steal the car either! The murderer vampire was sucking her boyfriend's blood when Courtney and I found him. This is the car they were in. She hit her head and fell unconscious."

"So you kept her?"

"We were thinking about taking her to a hospital but her head stopped bleeding and she seemed okay…" I explained.

The girl blinked a few times, her hand reaching to the wound on her head. Jack reached into one of our bags and pulled out a small towel and a water bottle with barely anything left in it. He poured the rest of the water out onto the towel.

"Move this," he said to CJ, talking about the passenger's seat. CJ did so and Jack reached in and offered the girl the towel. She took it with shaky hands and tried to wipe the blood off her cheek.

A kind of caring expression was on Jack's face as he reached for the towel back,  
"Here, let me help you, Hun."

She watched his face as he carefully touched the towel to her face and gently rubbed the blood off.

CJ looked away and whispered to me,

"This is awkward."

I felt a sort of burning sensation run through me as Jack said,

"Don't worry, it doesn't look so bad. I usually faint at the sight of blood, or throw up." And the girl smiled, laughing a little at his comment.

She was charmed by him. It made my stomach turn and my blood boiled from my arms up. I didn't like the way she was watching his face.

That's when I noticed CJ was watching _my_ face,

"You're turning green," he told me, sounding serious, "Don't think about it. There's no way she could have gotten over her dead boyfriend already."

He was whispering too quietly for the girl or Jack to hear. And they couldn't see that he was talking because his head was turned.

I looked down at him and nodded,

"I'm not worried…" I lied.

He turned back towards the girl and Jack.

"Okay, let's get rollin'," CJ put the passenger's side seat back up and Jack moved so he wouldn't get squished.

CJ danced around to the driver's side and hopped in. I picked up the car door that had fell off and sat in the car, holding the door in place so that it would look normal until we could fix it.

"Won't someone notice that this is a missing car?" Jack asked.

"Not if we drive quickly," CJ joked.

"If the owner's dead I guess they'll be looking for it…" Courtney agreed.

The girl gasped.

"What's wrong?" Jack asked her, sounding concerned again. I started to grind my teeth together in jealousy.

The girl looked at us like we were going to kill her.

"You want to hurt me," she said, quietly. Her voice sounded like she was a little girl.

"No, we don't. We just need this car," Jack explained. CJ nodded.

"You can have it! Please just don't kill me!" she begged.

"We don't plan on it…" CJ said.

"You keep saying I'm dead!" she cried, tears starting to roll out of her eyes. Jack looked at us, confused.

CJ hit himself on the head,

"I'm such an idiot."

"What?" I asked him.

"This is _her_ car," CJ said, "I assumed it was the boyfriend's."

"Oh. So what do we do?" I was getting scared now.

"Well, she already said we could have the car…" CJ said.

"CJ!" Jack didn't like the idea of just taking the girl's car.

"Do you live around here?" I asked her. She nodded.

"What's your name, Hun?" Jack asked her.

She hesitated.

"I just want to call you something better than 'her,'" Jack assured her.

"Theresa," she answered.

"That's a pretty name," Jack smiled.

"Thanks," she pulled a strand of her hair behind her ear, "That guy wasn't my boyfriend, by the way," she said to CJ, "That was only my first date with him."

CJ shrugged,

"Whatever."

"Why do you need the car?" She was finally beginning to sound less timid.

"Remember that _thing_ you saw?" CJ said, spitting out the word 'thing' with such animosity it made the girl widen her eyes, "The one who drained your boyfriend's body lifeless?"

The girl's eyes got glassy-like she was about to cry, and she opened to her mouth to reply but she sort of looked like she was choking instead.

Jack put a hand on her shoulder,

"…I'm sorry that happened to you," he said, sweetly, to her. I took in a deep breath through my nose,

"CJ and I stopped him from getting to you," I told her, trying to gain her trust.

She looked at Jack and smiled weakly at him,

"Yeah, I know the thing you're talking about," she answered, to Jack, as if he had asked the question, not CJ.

CJ shook his head and rolled his eyes,

"Ok, whatever; ignore me."

"My friends…well, CJ and Courtney here fight things like that. And they are trying to find other people who do the same. So we need this car to get there faster."

"Are you broke or something?" She asked, not sounding at all scared anymore.

"What?" Jack asked.

"Yes," CJ answered.

"Why do you need _this_ car? You don't have any money to just buy your own?" She clarified to Jack.

"Yeah, we are broke," CJ replied.

"Well, I kind of need my car," she said.

"Theresa?" Jack said. The girl had looked away from him to CJ. She turned back to Jack.

"If we give your car back, will please not report us to the police?"

"Jack!" CJ got upset, "This car would get us there so much faster!"

"Where are you going?" Theresa asked me.

"Washington," was all I replied. I wasn't sure if I should tell her where exactly.

"How long will it take?"

"Less than a day," CJ answered.

The Theresa girl sighed,

"What did you guys do with his body?" she asked. I bit my lip.

"I buried it," I answered quietly, trying to suppress the morbid scenes in my memory.

She sighed again,

"Where _exactly_ are you trying to get to?"

Jack, CJ, and I all exchanged looks.

"I might be able to help you if you tell me," she insisted. CJ gave in,

"La Push."

She laughed,

"No, really, where?"

"It's a reservation on the coast," Jack explained. She raised her eyebrows,

"Ok. What you guys need to do is take me with you."

CJ looked even more upset,

"Why the hell would we do that?"

She narrowed her eyes at him,

"Because this is _my_ car and _you_ say _you_ need it so bad."

"They'll be looking for this car, though," Jack said.

She shook her head,

"No one will even notice that he's missing. Not within the next day, at least. He was a druggie, a runaway."

"You have a nice taste in guys," CJ commented sarcastically.

"Who the hell do you think _you are_?" Theresa said to CJ, looking at him like he was disgusting.

"Oh my god, can we please just leave her in the woods somewhere or something?" CJ asked Jack, getting annoyed.

"Don't be such an as-" Jack began, angry at CJ.

"He's not serious!" I told Jack, trying to keep the peace.

"Look, just because Miss Terry-"

"_Theresa_," Jack corrected CJ.

"-has some sort of crush on you for some reason doesn't mean you can just start cal-"

"Oh shut up CJ!" I yelled, smacking his arm, "Leave Jack alone!"

Theresa laughed,

"I don't have a crush him, he's like thirteen!"

CJ burst out laughing. Jack looked hurt.

"Ok, we can keep her," CJ finally said after he stopped laughing. Jack moved his hand from Theresa's shoulder and put on his seatbelt as CJ started the car.

"Hey, do you have a license?" Jack asked as CJ started driving down the street, "And do you know where you're even going?"

"No and no," CJ replied.

"Awesome," Jack sounded like he was frightened.

"Don't worry, Court looked up the directions on Google Maps," CJ assured him.

"And where did you get a computer?" Jack asked.

"iPhone," I told Jack, holding it up for him to see.

Theresa's eyes widened again.

"Oh, yeah, sorry. We kinda need your phone too," CJ said to her.

"Ugh," was all she said.

"Hey, what are we gonna do with her when we get there?" I asked CJ.

He shrugged,

"Hey, Terry, isn't your family gonna be looking for you?"

"I live alone, genius. I'm _nineteen_."

CJ mocked her, widening his eyes in annoyance,

"Well _sorrr-rryyy_."

"_Theresa_," Jack corrected CJ again.

"That's what I said," CJ replied, "Court, hold on to the door a little tighter. I think I'm gonna go fast."

**Please Review!**


	15. End In Sight

Chapter Fifteen: End in Sight

_-Burning At Midnight-_

Song: 'Waiting for the End' by Linkin Park

"_Tacoma Police Department" _

"_Hi, I-I need to report a missing persons sighting." _

"_Okay, who are these people you believe to have seen?"_

"_Three runaway teenagers, I'm actually with them."_

"_Do they know you are making this call?"_

"_No, they just went into a gas station." _

"_Okay, can you give me their names?"_

"_Uh, there's a girl Courtney, and two guys, Jack and CJ. CJ and Courtney are older I think." _

"_Do you know any of their last names?" _

"_No but I heard them say they're from Long Island." _

"_Okay, and where are you exactly right now?"_

"_Uh, a gas station on Portland Ave." _

"_Okay, and they are in the gas station right now?"_

"_Yes."_

"_And you're in a car?" _

"_Yeah." _

"_Alright, officers are on their way. Can I please have your name?" _

"_Theresa Edgewood." _

_-_-_JCjc_- _ -

**Jack's Point of View**

Courtney, CJ, and I all were standing in line about to use the very last of our money on snacks. We had filled up the gas tank already and prayed that we wouldn't need to stop again for more.

"Guys, I cannot wait to sink my teeth into this junk food," CJ said, sounding impatient as the woman in front of us finished paying.

"Do you hear that?" Courtney suddenly asked CJ. CJ froze, surprised. I guess the candy bars in his arms had been distracting them.

"That little bi-"

CJ didn't let himself finish his sentence, dropping the merchandise in his arms and darting out of the door. Courtney was right behind him. Wondering if they had found a vampire, I was about to leave when the guy at the counter started to yell at me for all the dropped food. I apologized and quickly picked everything up and then ran out of the store.

Outside, CJ was standing over what appeared to be to remains of Theresa's iPhone, all smashed into little shards.

Courtney was holding Theresa inside of the car, covering her mouth.

I noticed a few people were looking suspiciously at us so I stuffed my hands in my pockets and tried to look casual as I got into the car. CJ got in too and started it, leaving the gas station and looking for a less public place to go.

"What happened?" I asked.

"She called the cops on us," CJ explained, "We gotta dump her and get the hell out of here."

"What did she tell them?"

"That we are runaways."

"Oh, that's not that bad. They'd just try to return us to our parents."

"Yeah, and I'm sure they wouldn't care that we were using her car or that we buried a dead body! It looks like we _kidnapped_ her, Jack!" CJ's voice was getting nervous.

"Oh." Panicking thoughts began to jump through my head, trying to figure out how we would get to La Push now.

"I'm not even an America citizen," mumbled CJ. I raised my eyebrows.

Courtney removed her hand from being over Theresa's mouth,

"Tell us everything you told them."

Theresa hugged herself, looking scared of us again,

"I just told them that you are runaways."

"What else? Did you tell them our names?" I demanded.

"Yeah."

"What did you say exactly?"

"Your names!"

"So you said 'Jack Casey, Courtney Hughes, and CJ…" I looked to CJ for his last name. CJ shrugged,

"I don't know my last name."

"I didn't know any of your last names!" Theresa said, "I was just trying to get my car back and save myself from being accused of murder!"

"But you didn't kill anyone!" I reminded her.

"Yeah but what am I going to tell the police? A vampire killed my boyfriend?"

"I thought you said he wasn't your boyfriend?" asked Courtney.

I saw a police car ahead of us.

"Damn. CJ, watch out!"

CJ quickly turned down a side street, avoiding the car.

"Did you tell them what car we're in?" I asked Theresa.

"No."

"Maybe it's best if we keep her, CJ," Courtney suggested.

"Just let her out here, while we are still pretty innocent," I said. CJ pulled over and I jumped out of the car and moved my seat. Courtney dragged Theresa out of the car and let go of her.

"Well, go ahead. Leave." I said to the girl. She looked me in the eyes,

"I know where you are going. They'll find you."

I glanced at Courtney and CJ, both seemed equally confused on why Theresa wasn't running away while she had the chance.

"You still want something from us?" Courtney asked.

Theresa nodded,

"I want my car back."

I heard CJ whine something about us almost being there.

"You know, for someone who witnessed their boyfriend being murdered by a vampire, you sure are pretty gutsy with the people who killed the vampire. Courtney and CJ saved you life," I reminded Theresa.

She looked at her feet,

"I know… I'm sorry for calling the police."

"…So are you going to let us keep your car?" I asked.

"I want to come with you," Theresa said.

I looked to Courtney and she shrugged,

"Better than her telling the police where we are going."

Cautiously, I got into the backseat with Courtney (I missed her) and Theresa sat in the passenger's seat.

"Now let's get out of here," CJ turned on the radio, a catchy song filling the car. He turned up the volume and Theresa started singing along to it.

I wanted to yell at him but then Courtney started to dance and I could tell she was trying to cheer me up so I joined her.

"Hey, wakey wakey!" I opened my eyes to CJ facing me and shaking Courtney. I swatted his hand away from her,

"Don't touch her."

He rolled his eyes.

I craned my neck to see where we were parked outside of some sort of gas station.

I sighed,

"Again?"

"We don't need any more gas. We're almost there. Theresa just needed to use the bathroom. And I'm hungry."

"Great."

"Wake her up, I bet she's hungry too."

I didn't want Courtney to move from where she was; leaning against me, sleeping.

I kissed her head,

"Wake up, Courtney. CJ wants us to buy food."

She opened her eyes. For a second it seemed like she forgot CJ was there, only looking at me. I thought she was going to try or kiss me or something, but then CJ opened his door and moved down a seat for us to get out.

We crawled out of the car and stretched.

CJ sniffed the air,

"Yes! You guys smell that?"

I shrugged. Courtney raised her eyebrows at him, completely confused.

"They have food in there!" CJ's voice got all high-pitched with excitement.

"Yay?" Courtney said.

I just chuckled,

"It's like they didn't have convenience stores in Spain."

"Hey," said CJ, "I haven't had anything but rodents for weeks."

Following CJ, we walked into the store.

"7- Eleven, oh thank heaven!" I read the sign.

Courtney laughed,

"That sounds so weird."

CJ had already gone to the back of the store, filling his arms with more junk food than we could even afford.

"We only have four dollars…" I mumbled to Courtney, as we watched CJ get in line behind two Native guys with no shirts on. I glanced at Courtney to make sure she wasn't checking them out or anything. I was glad when I saw she was keeping her eyes glued to her shoes, a pair of cheap flipflops (we couldn't afford to buy her new sneakers.)

CJ didn't seem to notice the guys either. He was licking his lips and staring at the disguising amount of junk food he was holding.

"Perfect," I heard him say. Courtney and I walked over to him,

"We don't have any amount of money near that," I reminded him. I now noticed that he had gotten a few drinks as well as a couple ice cream containers.

"I know," CJ replied.

"Then how do you expect to get all that?" Courtney asked, accusingly.

He smiled,

"We don't, but _I_ do."

He pulled out a wad of cash from his pocket.

"Where the hell did you get that!" I was angry.

"I had it saved up from when I was in Spain, I worked."

"That's U.S. currency though," I pointed out.

"Yeah? So?"

"So how is it from Spain?"

"Too many questions."

I tried to calm down,

"You couldn't have used it earlier?"

"I was saving it for emergencies…"

"This is an emergency?" Courtney and I asked at the same time.

CJ looked back and forth between us,

"Well. I'm hungry…" he tried to sound innocent.

We just stared at him.

"…Did I mention I love you guys?"

"Did I hear you're from Spain?" one of the guys who were in line in front of us turned around and asked.


	16. New World

Chapter Sixteen: New World

_-Burning At Midnight-_

Song: "The World At Large" by Modest Mouse

Courtney's Point Of View 

There was a familiarity between the two guys and myself. I almost felt like I was related to them, with their beautiful tan skin and tall, muscular bodies. They looked more like me than my older sister, Ren, did.

"Yeah," CJ replied to the guys' question, "You did hear that I'm from Spain."

"Cool. We're just from the Res., La Push. How'd you get yourself here?" The other guy asked.

CJ's eyes crawled their way over to me. I knew he was stuck, trying to think of a good answer to their question.

"We've actually been trying to get to La Push," Jack spoke.

The shorter of the two guys leaned over and quietly whispered something in a different language to the other.

The taller one nodded.

Jack, CJ, and I exchanged looks that said things like, 'Oh my God, their talking about us.'

Then Jack nudged me,

"Hey, the cashier looks annoyed," he pointed out that the guys had finished paying and we still hadn't. I took some of things from CJ's arms and placed them on the counter. CJ followed my lead and put his stuff down. He handed me the money to pay for it as he continued his conversation with the Quileute guys.

"Are you Quileute?" One of them asked me. I shook my head, and then remembered that I actually _was_.

"Oh, well, I've grown up in New York, but yeah, I'm Quileute technically, I guess," I corrected myself.

"How about you?" The shorter guy asked CJ.

"I'm from Spain…" CJ reminded them. The taller guy gave the younger guy a 'duh' look.

"Right," the younger one laughed at his silly question.

"Well, we've kind of been rude by not introducing ourselves," the taller guy said, "I'm Collin," he held out his hand for CJ to shake. They shook hands,

"I'm CJ," CJ said.

"And I'm Josh," the shorter guy introduced. They turned to me.

"Oh, my name's Courtney," I said, finished with paying and collecting all the snacks into my arms again. Apparently the store was out of bags or something.

"I'm Jack," Jack spoke up. The guys seemed to have less interest in him.

"Nice hair," the shorter guy, Josh, laughed, making fun of Jack's red hair. I narrowed my eyes at him and couldn't stop myself from growling.

"Oh! Sorry! Sorry! I didn't know it was like that!" Josh quickly apologized. Collin chuckled,

"I guess you two are dating?" he asked Jack and I. We nodded.

"But it's complicated," I added in. _We're also siblings…_

"So, why were you guys trying to get to La Push?" Collin asked.

CJ glanced at the cashier,

"Maybe we should talk about this outside."

We all walked outside and I kept my eyes open for Theresa, wondering what was taking her so long.

I spotted her outside of the bathroom talking to another shirtless Quileute guy.

I sighed and walked over to her. Everyone followed me.

"Theresa, who's this?" I asked her.

"Um. A hot guy? Oh! You found some too!" She saw Collin and Josh. All three of the guys seemed embarrassed by what she said.

"I'm Embry," the guy quietly introduced himself, his arms crossed, looking shy. He then shot a curious look at Collin and Josh.

"We gotta stop coming here," Josh said.

I had no idea what they were talking about but it seemed like they were used to weird experiences.

Theresa placed her hand on Embry's shoulder,

"What an interesting name!" She sounded like she was trying to flirt with him. CJ raised his eyebrows.

Embry stepped away from her,

"Yeah…" I think he was creeped out by her outgoing-ness.

"This is Theresa," I told the guys. They nodded.

"Oh? What's wrong? I'm just trying to be friendly…" Theresa sounded sad that Embry had stepped away.

CJ sighed and grabbed Theresa's wrist,

"_Stop it_," he warned her, pulling her away towards the car.

"There's someone we want you to meet," Collin quickly said before Jack and I followed after CJ, "In La push. We can lead you there."

I glanced at CJ who was trying to get Theresa to sit in the car.

"We can follow your car," Jack suggested.

"We walked here," Embry explained.

"Oh. Maybe you could just give us directions then?" I suggested.

"Sure. Do you have a piece of paper?" Collin asked.

"In the car," Jack replied. They followed us over to the car where CJ had finally gotten Theresa into the backseat.

Jack got out a piece of paper and pen and handed it to Collin. The guy scribbled out a few directions and handed it to me.

"Thanks," I said.

Jack crawled into the backseat with Theresa and I sat in the passenger's seat so I could read the directions to CJ.

"See ya there," Josh said, as the guys took off running towards the woods.

Theresa laughed,

"They're going to meet us there? On foot?"

"I think their shapeshifters like CJ and Courtney," Jack explained to the girl.

"Oh."

We followed the directions into La Push and pulled up at a small house. By now it was getting dark.

Sure enough, out of the house cam Josh, Collin, and Embry. Another, much stronger-looking guy was with them too. They walked with him like he was their leader.

_He probably is_.

"Nice car," the 'leader' commented to us after he had approached us and we had all gotten out from the car.

"Thanks," CJ said. Theresa elbowed him,

"Hey! It's my car!"

"Hi again," Josh said to us.

"Hola," replied CJ.

There was an awkward silence.

"You must be werewolves," the leader finally said.

CJ and I nodded.

"And you came to La Push because…?"

"We read one legend that said some of you shapeshift," Jack explained, "So Courtney and I decided to find you so Courtney could sort of 'be with her own kind,' you know…"

"What about him?" Collin nodded to CJ.

"I just…ran into them. And joined."

"I see."

"We kind of need help. Jack and I ran away from our family and have no place to live and we're all out of money. And CJ needs somewhere to live too," I explained to the leader.

"…We can probably help you out _a litt__le_. But you'll have to work for me. That's how things run around here."

"Ok. What kind of 'job' is this exactly?" CJ asked.

"Well, you two," he pointed to CJ and I, "Can be apart of what is called the Tribe Protectors. Sort of like the police of La Push. It's mostly just our cover story but we do help keep this place in order now and then. The real job is protecting the tribe against any dangerous vampires. We take turns being in our wolf forms so that at least three of us are ready at all times. Right now, there are 18 of us which makes it easy to split up the time."

"Eighteen! That's so many!" Theresa exclaimed. CJ put his hand on her shoulder.

"What can I do for a job?" Jack asked.

"…I don't really know. Do you know anything about cars?"

Jack shook his head,

"I'm not really into that kind of stuff."

"I guess you're on your own then. I can really only help the shapeshifters."

The leader didn't seem too upset about leaving Jack on his own. I stepped closer to Jack and glared at the leader. The leader saw me and added to Jack,

"You're mostly useless."

I growled.

"I told you," Josh mumbled to the leader. The leader bowed his head,

"I'm sorry. I just wanted to see if it was true. If she imprinted on you, of course we won't leave you on your own. But I don't think I can help with getting you a job."

"Imprinted?" I asked.

The leader looked surprised,

"It's the word we use for when a shapeshifter is…tied to their soul mate."

Jack blushed and I felt my heart swell a little. _Jack is my soul mate_.

"What about Theresa?" CJ asked. The leader looked at the girl.

"Well, I don't really know _how_ to help her but…she could always stay with you."

"Unless you want to take off," CJ said, turning so that he was completely facing Theresa, "I don't know if you planned on staying…"

"This place is interesting…You know, CJ, if you let me stay with you wherever you guys stay…you can have my car."

CJ smiled,

"_Really?_"

"Sure."

"I have to ask, does anyone else know about you two being shapeshifters?" The leader asked.

I shook my head,

"No."

CJ shook his head too,

"I ran away from the orphanage once I started morphing."

Josh laughed,

"It's called _phasing_."

"Do we have a deal?" The leader asked, "I find a place for you to stay and you two work for me?"

"I'm guessing we don't get paid?" CJ asked.

"You get a free place to stay."

CJ looked at me and I shrugged. _It's the most I could ask for. All I wanted was to find out more about this whole shapeshifting thing and these people are exactly who I was looking for. Plus a free place to stay would be great. And I get to be with Jack without anyone judging us for it. _

"Deal," CJ agreed.

"Good. Now we just need to get you guys introduced to everyone. And we need to clear up the details of everything. I think we could pull off a short-notice bonfire tomorrow night. Hopefully it won't rain. And we can clear out a place at the beach from the snow."

It _was_ awfully cloudy here and there _was_ a whole lot of snow everywhere.

"Kay," CJ replied.

"Where can we stay for the night?" I asked, worrying about Jack. I didn't want him to loose anymore sleep. We had finally reached La Push, he deserved to really rest.

They saw me glance at Jack and the leader smiled knowingly,

"Collin will go check if anyone on patrol right now is willing to let you stay at their house. Mine doesn't have enough room."

Collin ran towards the woods, jumping into it and _phasing_ in mid-air. I heard Theresa gasp in awe. It _did_ looked pretty cool. Shreds of clothes fell to the ground.

"I can take a couple of them, Jacob," Josh offered to the leader, who's name was apparently Jacob.

Jacob nodded,

"Good."

A moment later a tall girl who seemed to also be a shapeshifter approached us.

"I can take a couple," she said to Jacob. Jacob nodded,

"Thanks, Leah."

"Who goes with who?" Josh asked.

"I'll take the girl and the boy she's with," Leah said, not sounded at all negotiable, "I only have one extra room."

_I guess Jack and I are going with her_. I was excited to see that there was another girl shapeshifter.

"CJ and Theresa can go with me, then," Josh agreed, "And Leah? What extra room do you have?"

"They can stay in Seth's," she explained.

"I hope you guys don't mind sharing a room," Josh said to CJ and Theresa, "I mean, I'm sure you don't…" He seemed to think that CJ and Theresa liked each other. I giggled.

CJ widened his eyes,

"Um…"

Embry laughed,

"Poor guy," he mumbled.

Leah smirked,

"I have to get back to patrol. Jake, can you call Seth and have him take these two back to my house?"

Jake nodded,

"Yeah." Leah darted back into the woods.

Jacob, Embry, and Josh walked back towards the house. The four of us followed them into Jacob's small house.

When we walked into the living room, there was another shirtless guy lying out on couch with an older girl, watching TV.

"Paul, meet our two new pack members," Jacob said to the guy on the couch, Paul. He reluctantly lifted his head away from the girl he was lying with and examined us.

"Hey. I'm Paul."

"And that's my sister his being all cozy with," Jacob muttered. Paul smirked. The girl grabbed a pillow and chucked it at Jacob, completely missing him.

"I'm _Rachel_," she said, "Ignore my little brother. He thinks he's so cool for being _alpha_."

_Ah, so that's what they call it_.

Paul laughed and kissed the top of Rachel's head.

If the imprinting thing really was what happened with Jack and I, then I could tell it had also happened with these Paul and Rachel people.

_Looks like their lives are just as crazy as mine._ It's rather funny that Jacob had to share his sister with Paul.

I smiled. It was so nice that people were like me. Someone understood how I felt about Jack.

Jacob picked up an old-looking house phone and dialed a number.

"Hi, it's Jacob, is Seth there? …Yeah, I don't know the number though….Yeah? Ok, thanks."

Jacob hung up,

"He's somewhere with Dee. I'm gonna call the Cullens." He dialed a different number. After a few seconds, he smiled hugely,

"Hi, Nessie," he sounded so happy, "Oh really? Awesome. I'll stop by the second I get a chance, I promise. How are you? Good. Yeah I'm fine. Nice. I'm sure it looks awesome."

Embry smirked and looked at us,

"Five bucks he's already forgotten why he called."

Jacob waved his hand to shoo Embry,

"Hey, Ness, do you by any chance know where Seth is? I need him for something. Yeah, I figured. Do you have the number? Awesome. Thanks so much." Jacob turned to Embry,

"Here, right down this number."

Embry looked around trying to find a piece of paper. CJ spotted a pen and handed it to him. Embry quickly ripped off a piece of paper towel as Jacob began to repeat the number out loud to us. Once he finished he continued to talk on the phone to the Nessie person, smiling like crazy the entire time until Embry pulled the phone away from him and hung up the call.

"We gotta call Seth," Embry reminded Jacob. Jacob pouted and dialed the number.

"Hey, Dee. I need Seth. At my house. _Now_….Kay, thanks."

"He'll be here in a minute," Jacob said to us.

Josh looked at the clock,

"I have to get going. My dad wants me to do some chores before I go to bed. Bye, man. Good luck," Josh 'man-hugged' Embry and motioned for CJ and Theresa to follow him. Josh then moved to the living room to wave bye to Paul and Rachel. CJ turned to me before he left with Josh,

"We'll talk again soon, right?"

"Yeah, sure thing."

CJ surprised me by hugging Jack and then me.

I think he was upset about us separating.

Theresa awkwardly followed CJ and Josh out of the house. I looked out the window, watching the three of them get into the car and drive off.

"We can sit in the living room," Embry quietly suggested to Jack and I. He seemed shy.

Jacob looked impatient.

"Um, I have a question," I said, feeling kind of awkward.

Jacob and Embry looked at me, waiting.

"Uh, like this 'imprinting' thing, does it happen to every shapeshifter?"

Jacob shook his head as Embry looked down at his feet.

"It's supposed to rare. But things have been exceptional lately. A lot of us have. Kind of like girl werewolves. It's supposed to be…impossible. But first there was Leah, and then Katie, and Dee, and now you."

A new shirtless guy entered the front door.

Jacob looked relieved,

"Seth, Leah says you can take in a couple people for a little while."

"What?" Seth looked confused, staring at Jack and I.

"This is Courtney, she's joining our pack and needs a place to stay. And she imprinted on Jack. Leah told me to call you to bring them to your house."

Seth blinked,

"Um, okay."

"Did you bring a car?"

Seth still looked lost,

"No."

"Kay, just take mine and bring it back as soon as you can," Jacob said, leading us all outside, "Courtney and Jack, I'll see you tomorrow. The Clearwater's will take care of you, don't worry."

And without another word, Jacob broke out in a sprint towards the woods.

"He's going to the Cullens'," Embry explained to Seth. Seth nodded,

"Figures, he looked like he was going to pee himself he was so antsy."

I giggled and Jack chuckled too.

Although Seth had just made fun of Jacob, he had a look of admiration in his eyes when he watched Jacob run off. Like Jacob was his role model or something.

"You heading to the Brentwoods'?" Seth asked Embry. Embry looked embarrassed,

"I think I messed up," he admitted, "Really bad. She tried to break up with me."

Seth raised his eyebrows,

"What did you say to her?"

"I wasn't nice. I was confused. And…I just gotta come clean to her."

"Do it," Seth agreed, "It's the right thing."

I felt sort of invisible as they went on and on by things I didn't know anything about.

Embry finally left and Seth led us to Jacob's garage. We got into the car with him and made it to his house.

We entered his kitchen where an older man and woman were laughing over a meal.

"Hi, Mom," Seth kissed the woman on her cheek and waved to the man, "Nice to see you again, Charlie."

"Who are these people?" the woman asked Seth, staring at Jack and I.

"Leah offered them a place to stay. The girl is joining the pack."

"I've never seen you before," the woman added.

"We just moved here," I explained.

"Why's the boy here?" The woman asked.

"She imprinted on him," Seth explained.

"What are your names?" the woman demanded.

"Courtney and Jack," I answered.

"I'm Ms. Clearwater," The woman introduced, "I don't know where you two are going to sleep though…"

"Leah offered us Seth's room," Jack said.

Seth bit his lip,

"Okay. Mom, I'm going to show them around the house."

The Charlie guy waved to us,

"Nice to meet you," he said. "I'm Officer Swan, the Police Chief in Forks."

I smiled, trying to be nice. Seth led us upstairs and pointed to a small room,

"That's the office, there's an old computer in there if you ever need one. It's really slow, though. That's Leah room," he pointed to a closed door, "and this is my room," he lead us into a small room. It was pretty clean except for some clutter on top of a dresser.

"Where are you going to be sleeping?" Jack asked.

"I have a friend I can stay with," he answered, "Feel free to ask my mom for anything you need. You don't have any bags or anything?"

Jack looked at me,

"We left them in the car. We'll have to get them from CJ tomorrow."

Seth nodded and then stepped out the room,

"I'll be downstairs for a little while then I got to head out again. Leah will be back in like an hour."

He closed the door behind him. Jack quickly moved close to me and hugged me,

"We're finally here."

I hugged him back, smiling,

"I know."

Slowly, he pulled away and our faces were less than inch apart. He searched my eyes and then, after a slow-motion moment, he pressed his lips against mine. It felt like a jolt of electricity was rushing through my body. I pulled myself closer to him. My mind went blank, totally lost in the feeling of him and me together.

After a few seconds we broke apart and he hugged me tighter. I kissed his head,

"Let's get some rest." He looked at the bed,

"Kay."


	17. Sunny

Chapter Seventeen: Sunny

_-Burning At Midnight-_

Song: 'Innocence' by Avril Lavigne

Jack's Point of View

"Good thing I'm never cold," Courtney smiled, leaning out of the window into the cold morning breeze, "That way I can keep you warm in this freezing temperature." She closed her eyes as she breathed in the fresh air, her short, light hair being gently blown by the wind. I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. She turned around to face me,

"I really do feel like I'm home."

"It's safe here, no need to hide…" I agreed with her.

She giggled as she looked down at my feet,

"Your socks have holes in them." Her eyes moved up my legs, "And your skinny jeans' color is fading."

I looked down at my pants,

"You're right, they kind of look gray now." I laughed; I bought them when they were a deep black. "Let's find a phone and get a hold of CJ and Theresa so we can ask them to bring our bag to the bonfire thing today."

"I only have two good outfits left in that bag. Are your other clothes still good?" Courtney asked me.

"Well, most of my shirts are pretty dirty and dirt-stained, but I do have one good pair of green skinny jeans. I barely wore them, they are my favorite pair."

Courtney kissed me, quickly pulling away again. But I knew that she had forgotten that we don't have to be secretive anymore. Tightening my grip around her waist, I pulled her back closer to me and caught her lips again right before they left mine.

After that, things started taking on a life of their own- my hands, my lips, my whole _body_ wasn't listening to me anymore. And I hadn't ever _really_ done much with Courtney before, romantically speaking. In fact, I was sort of confused what was going on when the Leah girl opened the door and walked right in on us. I opened my eyes to see myself on top of Courtney lying on the bed.

Leah made no comment, just held out a phone next to our faces. I stood up and took the phone, as Courtney stayed lying on her back with her feet hanging off the edge of the bed.

I looked at the Leah girl. She half-smiled and then walked out of the room.

I nervously cleared my throat and put the phone to my ear,

"Hello?" my voice sounded a little shaky. I avoided making eye contact with Courtney.

"Hola, Jack?"

I cleared my throat again,

"CJ?"

"Yeah. We have your pants…"

I rolled my eyes,

"You mean my clothes?"

"Yeah but…Jack, you know you have bright green pants?"

"You went through our clothes?"

"Hey! It was an accident!"

"An accident? How do you accidently…oh whatever."

CJ laughed,

"Anyways, you didn't notice that you did not have any more pants?"

"Oh, yeah, we were just about to call you," I tried to make it seem like I was looking at something out the window but my foot started tapping with anxiousness. I heard Courtney stand up and a moment later she was very close behind me.

"So…you want your bag back?"

"Um," I was getting distracted, wondering what Courtney was doing as I heard her move back towards the bed, "Uh, mhm. Just, uh, bring it to the, uh,"

"Bonfire?" CJ finished my sentence.

"Mhm."

"Kay, bye."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone and walked across the room to put it down on the dresser.

Hesitantly I looked towards Courtney. She was finishing up making the bed.

"Did he call about the bag?" She asked. I nodded. I swallowed, embarrassed about what had happened. She walked over to me and hugged me,

"Are you okay?"

I hugged her back,

"Yeah."

Thankfully, all of my bashfulness washed away with the wave of comfort that her hug had given me. "Want to take a walk?"

She put a hand on her stomach,

"I'm starving. Do you mind if we get some food first?"

I smiled,

"Sure."

Walking into the kitchen, we found some bread and made a few pieces of toast. For someone who was starving, Courtney did not eat very much. Instead of gobbling down the food, she made sure I didn't want any more before she would even touch the bread.

"Let's not go too far, we don't want to get lost. And it looks like it's going to rain," Courtney said, looking up at the cloudy sky, now standing outside with me.

Someone laughed down the street,

"It always looks like that." A teenage girl with long, poofy hair approached us. Glued on to her arm was a boy wearing a thin short-sleeve shirt. He was without doubt one of the shapeshifters.

I felt self-conscious as I zipped up my sweatshirt. It _was_ _freezing_ out.

Courtney looked at me and then greeted the two strangers,

"Hi, I'm Courtney. You must be in the pack," she said to the guy. He smiled,

"Yup, I'm Brady."

"And I'm Audrine," introduced the fluffy-haired girl, "Who are you?" she asked me.

"Jack," I responded.

"Nice to meet you," Audrine said to both of us.

"Same," I said politely.

"Where are you going?" Audrine sounded curious.

"Uh, not sure," Courtney shrugged, "Just out for a walk."

"Oh, why don't you join us? Brady and I were doing the same."

Courtney looked at me to see what I wanted to do. I smiled,

"Sounds fun."

Courtney smiled too,

"You guys are going to be at the bonfire tonight, right?"

"Oh, yeah. Of course. Brady would be in _so much trouble_ if he didn't go. It's like your welcome party!" Audrine explained.

"Oh," Courtney laughed, "Got it."

The walk was really nice, which surprised me because I would think I would be sick of walking after all the traveling we did to get to this Reservation. But maybe I had just gotten used to the exercise.

Audrine and Brady talked about different dramas with the pack. The gossip went on and on. Personally, I didn't listen much. I think Courtney did though. Regardless, the Audrine girl was right to not worry about the clouds. The sun shone around 1 o'clock.

After we got back the house, Courtney and I crashed on the bed and lazily slept for two hours. Then we woke up and had lunch. After that, it was time to get into Leah's car and go to the bonfire. Or at least, _I_ got into the car. Courtney was asked to run there in wolf form with some of the guys. I got upset when I realized they might glimpse her naked, but she told me that she would hide every time she had to change.

When we got to the beach, Theresa was already there. She gave me our bag of clothes. A few minutes later CJ and Courtney showed up.

"We couldn't read their minds," She told me, "I guess for whatever reason we're having trouble merging our packs."

I know I should feel bad that she was disappointed, but I was thankful that they didn't see any of her thoughts. It's a violation of her privacy for a bunch of guys to read a girl's personal thoughts.

"Court, do you think we could find your biological parents here?" I asked her. "I was thinking about it on the ride over here."

She looked surprised,

" 'Here' as in at this bonfire?"

I nodded,

"Yeah. Leah told me tribe elders come here too. So they'll be adults here. And if you're a shapeshifter, you must be related to _someone_ that's gonna be at this thing."

Courtney blinked and then smiled at me,

"You're so smart. You're probably right, let's keep our eyes open."

I smiled and snuck a kiss on her cheek. She smiled bigger and we sat back on the towel and waited for the tribe stories to be told.

Before that, though, the pack alpha, Jacob, gave everyone their new shift times. Courtney got from 9:00 pm to midnight.

"Ugh," I whined.

"What?" she sounded worried about my reaction.

"I don't like that."

"Why not?"

"That cuts into our time to cuddle with each other."

She giggled,

"Aw, I'm sorry. I promise we can sleep in every morning, though."

"That is, assuming I don't get a job that I have to wake up early every morning for," I reminded her. Courtney bit her lip,

"That's true." She looked really sad. I felt bad and decided to cheer up for her,

"Don't worry about it, I'll find something that doesn't start till later," I told her, smiling as best as I could.

Later the story-telling started and at the end of it I realized that all of the shapshifters were descendents from the same one person. So really, Courtney _was_ related to someone at the bonfire….like, _everyone_.

After CJ and Theresa left with the guy they were staying with (Josh,) a guy came up to us. He introduced himself as Dr. Quris. With him was his daughter, Tasha.

"I'm a scientist. I'm working to help the shapeshifters fight the vampires," he explained to us.

"Cool," I wanted to ask him some questions but his older daughter called him over. Tasha stayed, however.

"Courtney," she said, very seriously, "I think you might want this," Tasha (who must be only around nine years old) handed Courtney a folded photograph.

Courtney looked confused,

"What is this?"

Tasha shrugged,

"It's something I found awhile ago in my parents room. I'm glad I followed my instincts to bring it with me tonight."

Courtney unfolded the picture. She stared at it for a minute then handed it to me.

"Can you help me find out more?" Courtney asked Tasha. Tasha had light hair and tan skin, just like Courtney.

Tasha nodded,

"But not right now, I have to go home, it's late. Don't tell anyone about that."

"Where can I find you?" Courtney asked.

"I live in Forks. Just ask one of the guys- like Josh, Embry, Taylor, Collin, Seth- really any of them can bring you there."

"Thank you," Courtney said, sounding so grateful. Tasha smiled and left, walking back over to her father.

Courtney looked so excided.

I was still trying to register what I was seeing. In the photograph was a man, a woman, and two babies. The man looked Quileute but it was the paler woman who looked so familiar it made me feel dizzy. I felt like I was looking at a paler version of Courtney.

I quickly tucked the photograph away in our bag, just so no one else would see.

Courtney was beaming,

"I'm so happy that we are here. So happy that we are together. But I just hope that whenever the other's _can_ read my thoughts they aren't shocked about us…" _About us being stepsiblings…_

Seth and another girl with tan skin and light hair walked up to us.

"This is my favoritest girl, Deanna," Seth told us.

"You can call me Dee," the girl corrected.

Dee was obviously sisters with the Tasha girl, and I could tell by the look on Courtney's face that she realized the same thing.

Later, Leah, Dee, Seth, Courtney, and I were talking in Seth and Leah's kitchen.

"Dee, you said you're half Quileute?" Courtney asked the girl, referring to something Deanna had said earlier right before we left the bonfire.

"Yeah," answered Dee. She was sitting Seth's lap.

"Maybe that's what I am too. I mean, because we both have light hair. Did you imprint on Seth?" Courtney asked. She seemed to think her and Dee were a lot alike.

"Yeah, actually, he imprinted on me too," Dee answered.

"Oh, wow. We're a lot a like. I imprinted on Jack." _See what I mean?_

"Cool." The Dee girl smiled politely.

That's when I decided these weird secrets were getting crazy. _Courtney probably just wants to be honest with these people_.

I leaned in and whispered in Courtney's ear,

"Do you think we should tell them?"

"We can hear you, just so you know…" Leah warned me. I felt embarrassed.

"Oh, sorry," I quickly said. Courtney nodded to me,

"I'll do it. We have a confession to make…" She began.

"A secret?" Seth looked curious.

"We ran away from our family," Courtney announced. I held my breath.

"…We already knew that…" Seth reminded us.

"_Our_ _family_," I clarified, "As in only one family."

"We're stepsiblings," Courtney explained, "That's why we were so desperate to secretly runaway."

Leah raised her eyebrows and Seth looked surprised,

"Oh, woah…that's…"

"Weird, wrong, awful, we know…" I said, suddenly feeling guilty about it all.

"But I _imprinted _on him," Courtney pointed out, "So we can't help it."

"That's…Less weird than half the stuff that happens around here," Seth laughed, finally finishing his sentence.

"Really?" I asked as Courtney smiled.

"Oh hell yeah. You know that Quil guy? He imprinted on a girl _who was two years old_! And Mr. Alpha imprinted on Nessie when she was just a little tiny newborn baby! Oh and there's so many weird family connections with everyone. Like my mom has this new fancy for Charlie Swan from Forks who is the father of Bella who had a half vampire baby with one of the Cullens (the vampire family who we are all chill with) who is the same baby that Jacob imprinted on..."

I laughed,

"I feel better now."

_Maybe this place really will be our permanent home. I've never felt more comfortable. _

Later, Courtney and I took showers and changed into pajamas. Ours were still dirty so I borrowed some of Seth's and Courtney borrowed some of Leah's. We both looked funny because they were bigger than us.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed across from each other, we examined the picture once again.

"Do you think I'm one of those babies?" Courtney asked me.

"I guess it would make sense," I nodded, "I mean, neither of those parents look older than nineteen. That could have been why they gave you up for adoption."

"That girl, Tasha, said she found it in her parent's things. Do you think she's my sister?"

"That would mean that Dr. Quris guy is your father," I told her, lying down on my side, tired. She lied down, too, and looked closer at the photograph,

"Well, look, he does sort of look like an older version of this guy," she pointed at the male in picture.

I sighed,

"I'm tired."

Courtney moved the picture to the dresser and got under the covers with me, snuggling up next to me,

"Then let's go to bed."

I noticed the phone was still on the dresser from when I had put it there this morning.

"…Courtney? Do you think we should call Mom and your dad? Just so they know we're okay?"

Courtney took a deep breath,

"We should. But I'm scared."

"We can both do it. I'll put it on speaker," I suggested.

She nodded,

"Okay."

My heart started to race as I dialed my house number. I wasn't sure what the time difference was, but someone answered,

"Hello?" I recognized Alexander's voice.

"Alex?"

"May I ask who's speaking?"

Courtney's eyes started to fill with tears and mine did, too. Hearing Alexander's innocent, little voice over the phone was heartbreaking.

"It's Jack," I spoke, almost choking on my words.

"And Courtney," Courtney added, her voice sounding just as rough.

"Wh-what? You guys? Where are you?"

"Is anyone else home?" I asked my little brother, hoping I could talk to a parent or Ren at least.

"No."

"No one else is home?" Courtney asked.

"They got into a fight and left," Alexander explained, sounding like _he_ was going to start crying now.

"But Ren's not home?" I asked.

"She moved out when they told us about the divorce."

"The divorce?" I was confused now.

"They told us they don't want to be married anymore," now Alexander _was_ crying.

_If they divorce…then…Courtney and I aren't stepsiblings anymore…_

Tears started running down Courtney's cheeks, too.

"Ren left," she mumbled, stuffing her face into her hands and starting to sob, "How could she do that? ..._I_ left…How could I do that!"

"How long ago did they leave?" I tried to figure out why my Mom would leave poor Alex alone.

"Just a few minutes before the phone rang, I think Mommy's just outside at the beach," Alexander told us. "Can you guys please come back? I don't want to be alone."

Courtney looked up at me, her eyes red and puffy and her cheeks tear-stained. I closed my eyes but a tear escaped anyways.

_We can't leave, we just got here._

"Hello? Guys?" Alexander was still crying.

I opened my eyes and Courtney and I stared at each other.

"We're so sorry, Alex," I told him, knowing we belonged in La Push.

"We'll come and get you. We'll come and get you and bring you back with us," Courtney told him, "I promise. We'll come and you can live with me and Jack. Ok, Alexander, ok?"

"Okay."

_**The End **_

(There's actually going to be an epilogue, but this is the last actual chapter.) –Ria M. Write


	18. Epilogue

Epilogue

Song: 'Beautiful, Beautiful' by Francesca Battistelli

_-Burning At Midnight-_

Sprawled out upon the dining table, an open letter lay with a breakfast biscuit, still-hot tea brewed in a porcelain cup, and a burning cigarette stub coughed up small clouds of smoke. There was an envelope with its roof ripped open, addressed to Lesia Hughes. No return address was written.

_Dear Lesi, _

_Please forgive us for running away. We are in a safe new home and are very happy here. Thank you for all you have done for us. We have spoken to Alexander and he has told us about the divorce. Please consider letting him come and live with us. Jack's plane should have already arrived in JFK airport by the time you get this letter._

_Love, _

_Courtney and Jack _

-._.-._JcCjJcJCjc_.-._.-

Jack looked down at the photographs in his hands. The first was of the beach- the rock wall, the shells, the sand…everything he remembered being so beautiful about his old home on the Sound. The next photo was of his mother, Lesi, who he owed his life to. She wouldn't be living in the large, green house alone for long, Jack thought. He knew it would only be a matter of time before she got remarried.

Arranging himself more comfortably in his seat, Jack examined the third picture: of himself and Courtney when they were little. With smiling faces and their clothing covered in mud, the two little kids were happier than ever. Jack smiled at the image and stuffed it into his carry-on bag.

He looked over to the seat next to him to see his little brother, Alexander, fast asleep.

Lesi hadn't put up a fight with Jack, she knew Alexander should live with his older brother when the little boy had packed his backpack full of his clothes and insisted on going with Jack, even if it meant leaving his games behind.

Jack knew Alexander would have a better life in La Push, where there was an entire community of friends who would be around him, instead of a neglectful mother going through her fourth divorce.

During his visit back to Long Island, Jack had also learned that Ren had bigger plans then just moving out: she was engaged. And as for Courtney's father, he was living in an apartment in the city now.

-._.-._JcCjJcJCjc_.-._.-

Courtney's Point of View

"Are you okay?" Tasha, the girl who had given me the photo at the bonfire, asked me. Earlier today there had been an _incident_ where CJ tried to attack the Cullens. I guess no one told him about them. Jacob ordered for me to go and be one of the people to calm him down. Luckily, everything turned out all right and (even better) the Cullen's house was right next-door to Tasha's. I was able to ask her more about the photograph of the people that looked like me.

"I'm sorry, I just keep thinking about Jack. He's away right now and, and it's making me _crazy_," I explained to the girl.

"Jack? Is he your _boy_-frieeend?" She asked, teasingly.

"Yeah. I'm in love with him," I confessed, not at all ashamed.

The girl raised her eyebrows,

"I can see that. Did you bring the picture?"

"Yes…" I handed it back to her, "But, do you really think it's possible that I'm your sister?"

Tasha shrugged,

"Sure. I already have six of them…what's one more?"

We laughed together for a moment.

"How could I find out for sure?" I asked.

"Um, you could just ask."

"Just ask?" _Who?_  
"Yeah," Tasha took hold of my hand and led me to a different floor of her house. She knocked on what appeared to be a bedroom door. "Mom?"

A woman opened the door.

_She looks like the woman from the picture! Could this be it? Could I be meeting my mother?_

"Yes, Tasha?" the woman spoke, peering at me as if trying to remember if she had met me before.

"We want to know who the babies are in this picture." Tasha handed her mother the picture. The woman smiled,

"Oh! Where did you find this? I've been looking all over for it! This is your father and I holding Aria and your cousin, Courtney."

"Cousin?" Tasha sounded confused.

"Yeah, one of my sisters also married a man from the Quileute tribe, and they had a baby, Courtney."

"You have a sister? How come we never met her?" Tasha sounded upset now.

"Oh, well," the woman looked sad, her voice becoming much quieter, "There was an accident that your aunt and your uncle died in."

My heart fell. It fell so deep, I wasn't sure if I could ever get it back.

"What happened to their baby?" Tasha question.

"She was adopted by a very nice family who lived out East. Now go finish your chores." The woman didn't seem to want to talk about it anymore, she closed the door. Tasha and I walked back downstairs,

"I'm sorry," Tasha said to me, once we were out of earshot.

I felt as if I was drained of all energy,

"Thanks. For helping me find out, I mean. It's really nice of you."

"So, I guess we are cousins," Tasha smiled.

I forced a smile back,

"Yeah."

_I shouldn't be sad; I have seven girl cousins to get to know!_

But that thought wasn't comforting. I made my way home, trying not to cry. I didn't _want_ to feel so bad about it, I had not even known my biological parents…but I just felt so disappointed.

Nine o'clock at night my very first shift ever started.

"I don't want to be late," I told Leah, trying to find an outfit that was easy to get on and off quickly.

"You still have ten minutes," She reminded me, chuckling at my hurrying.

"I know. I wish you or Seth was in my shift with me. I'm so nervous," I confessed, deciding to just stay in what I was already wearing.

"Good luck," she said to me, as I left the house.

I approached the woods, taking a deep breath before I walked into it. It was dark. Once I found a tall, fat tree, I stripped and folded my clothes, tucking them close next to the trunk.

Then I took a few more deep breaths before I phased, realizing as I did so that my anxiety was from Jack's absence. I had not seen him since he left for New York and it was killing every bit of me.

Meeting two other wolves by the cliffs, I saw that it was going to rain soon. I could tell that the two others were guys, but I did not recognize them enough to remember their names. I followed them around, wondering if they were talking about me with each other.

_I hope I'll be able to read their minds sometime soon_.

About an hour later, one of the wolves switched off with a girl wolf. She had the most beautiful fur coat I could ever imagine a wolf having. I knew she was Dee. Her pretty brown eyes were easily recognizable.

She didn't make me feel as lonely as I was when it had just been me and the two guys. Even though it was difficult to communicate, I felt like she was talking to me. She would stick her nose in one direction and make a sort of laughing-barking sound. After a while I realized she was making fun of whoever the other guy was that we were with. He was bigger than both of us but whenever we got close to another animal, he would trail behind us (ears down) as if he were scared. That lasted for another hour until finally my thoughts were joined. I was so happy to hear CJ's Spanish thoughts.

I didn't know what he was saying, but he was thinking about something as he phased into his wolf form.

He realized how happy I was to be joined by him and he laughed,

"_Hey,"_ he greeted me, _"Where are you?"_

I could see that he was by the cliffs and I gave him directions to where we were. Once CJ caught up to us, the other guy phased and dressed.

We were at the edge of the woods, right in back of someone's house. Dee and I watched as the guy who had been in wolf form with us ran out into the backyard just as a girl came outside. They hugged and kissed and then I almost died. They reminded me of Jack, and I started to feel _so_ depressed. I needed him. I wanted to know that he was safe.

CJ (who was thinking in mostly English now) felt bad for me. He lied down on the forest floor, putting his head and his ears down and letting out a quiet little cry, looking up at me.

I lied down next to him.

Dee watched us, looking sort of confused. She barked, trying to tell us to get up.

But I sat there and cried; feeling like my heart was torn out. My biological parents are dead, my adoptive family is breaking apart, Jack is gone, and now it's raining.

And no matter what Dee did, I was not able to get myself to move. CJ stayed with me.

After a half an hour of that, Dee ran off.

"_Do you think she'll come back?"_ I asked CJ.

"_I don't know. Maybe she's going to go tell on us."_

Twenty more minutes past by. It was midnight now.

The rain started pouring harder. Dee patted her way back over to us, sitting down and looking in the direction of where she came.

Like a sun breaking through the midnight darkness, my heart swelled as Jack and Alexander walked towards us. Dee dropped the bundle of clothing she was carrying in her mouth in front of me. I recognized it as my own, she had retrieved it from where I had left it earlier. Springing up, I dashed over to the nearest tree and phased, putting on my clothes quicker than I ever had before. I ran over and grabbed Jack, hugging him so tightly I was afraid I had almost hurt him.

Jack hugged me back,

"Courtney, you're insane," he said, "Let's go inside."

I pulled away and smiled at him, picking up Alexander and hugging him, too.

"Courtney! Courtney! Wolves! There are wolves!" The little boy pointed excitedly at CJ and Dee. Jack and I laughed.

"I love you," Jack said to me. I grinned and kissed him again,

"I love you too, Jack."

Alexander stared at us for a minute,

"You guys like each other?" He sounded confused and shocked.

_This is going to take some explaining. _


End file.
